GERALD WILSON

GERALD WISON

DETROIT

Before Motown

Commissioned by the Detroit International Jazz Festival and premiered on the occasion of the composer's 91st birthday, Gerald Wilson's six-movement "Detroit Suite" demonstrates that after nearly seven decades in the music business, the nonagenarian composer and arranger still has a great deal to offer in terms of musical creativity. Wilson spent the latter part of his teen years in the Motor City, where he studied trumpet, piano, percussion, and composition at Cass Technical High School from 1934-39, and he still regards Detroit as a "hometown."

The opening "Blues on Belle Isle," which is named for a park on a island in the Detroit River, features the alto sax of Randall Willis, trumpeter Sean Jones, violinist Yvette Devereaux (following in the footsteps of the young Jean-Luc Ponty, who occupied this chair in the Wilson ensemble four decades ago), and guitarist and Gerald's son Anthony Wilson, who has been a mainstay of the Diana Krall quartet for the past several years. "Cass Tech," Wilson's paean to his alma mater, is a variation on Benny Golson's "Along Came Betty" in much the same fashion as Bill Holman's take on "Stompin' at the Savoy" for Stan Kenton over a half-century ago. The ballad "Detroit" spotlights Willis on flute, Jones on fluegelhorn, and the tenor sax of Kamasi Washington (Jones and Washington appear on both the Los Angeles and New York sessions).

Personnel: Gerald Wilson, conductor, composer, arranger; Los Angeles: Ron Barrows: trumpet, contractor; Bobby Rodriguez: trumpet; Sean Jones: trumpet; Jeff Kaye: trumpet; Rick Baptist: trumpet; Winston Byrd: trumpet; Eric Jorgensen: trombone; Les Benedict: trombone; Mike Wimberly: trombone; Shaunte Palmer: trombone; Jackie Kelso: alto, soprano saxes; Randall Willis: alto sax, flute; Carl Randall: tenor sax; Kamasi Washington: tenor sax; Louis Van Taylor: tenor, baritone saxes; Terry Landry: baritone sax; Yvette Devereaux: violin; Brian O'Rourke: piano; Anthony Wilson: guitar; Trey Henry: bass; Mel Lee: drums;