OLLY WILSON, 80, March 12, in Oakland, CA. After performing as a teenage jazz musician enamored by Miles Davis and Charlie Parker he turned his artistic energy towards composing modern classical pieces with a jazz sensibility. He studied African music in Ghana, and created a studio for electronic music at the Oberlin College Conservatory where he taught before his long tenure at Berkley. He received commissions for several long works, notably “Shango Memory” and “A City Called Heaven.” His compositions have been played by orchestras around the world.
