Teddy Wilson always stood apart from the stereotypes attached to jazz musicians of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. He was soft-spoken, distinguished, reliable, and very consistent. One could not imagine him ever showing up late for a gig or doing anything that was even close to distasteful.
The same was true of his piano playing. He was so consistent that, as with Johnny Hodges with Duke Ellington, he gave the impression that he never made a mistake. Wilson sounded relaxed even when playing at rapid tempos and his playing managed to be very accessible to the average listener while always being swinging and creative.
He was born as Theodore Shaw Wilson on November 24, 1912, in Austin, Texas. Both of his parents were school teachers who encouraged him to play music. In addition to starting piano lessons when he was seven, Wilson studied violin, the E-flat clarinet, and the oboe.
In 1929 he moved to Detroit where he worked with Speed Webb’s highly-rated but sadly unrecorded territory band. Next he played with Milton Senior’s band, succeeding Art Tatum. Settling in Chicago, Wilson worked with Erskine Tate and other local bands. Early on he impressed the young producer John Hammond who introduced him to Benny Carter. Wilson made his recording debut on one title with Benny Carter in 1932 (“Tell All Your Day Dreams To Me”). Louis Armstrong heard Wilson, was impressed, and used him on three recording sessions resulting in a dozen songs cut during Jan. 26-28, 1933. Moving to New York, Wilson recorded later in the year in three settings that included Benny Carter: the Chocolate Dandies, Mezz Mezzrow’s group, and Carter’s big band.
The 21-year old pianist was on several notable recording sessions in 1934. He recorded with Benny Goodman for the first time on May 14, 1934, for four titles (including “Moonglow”) in a pickup group that included trombonist Jack Teagarden. On May 22, Wilson recorded his first four piano solos (plus three alternate takes), none of which were released for many decades. On Aug. 15 he was on two songs with a Wingy Manone all-star group that included Artie Shaw, Bud Freeman, and trombonist Dicky Wells. The other two numbers from that date had Jelly Roll Morton on piano. Wilson also recorded with Red Norvo and Benny Carter’s orchestra and worked with Willie Bryant during 1934-35.
During this early period, Teddy Wilson developed his distinctive style. He was initially influenced by Earl Hines, Art Tatum and to a lesser extent Fats Waller. While taking aspects of each of their approaches, Wilson did not engage in Hines’ time-defying breaks or Tatum’s incredibly fast runs, and he lightened up on Waller’s stridings. He developed a tasteful and melodic style of his own, one that reflected his gentle personality even when he was playing at a racehorse tempo.
All of his experiences up until mid-1935 were just a prelude to what was to come. After hearing Wilson play in a trio with Benny Goodman and drummer Carl Bellinger at a party given by Mildred Bailey, John Hammond convinced Goodman to utilize Wilson with Gene Krupa in what would be the groundbreaking interracial Benny Goodman Trio. Hammond also arranged for Wilson to record extensively for the Brunswick label as a leader, utilizing major swing players in all-star groups that often accompanied Billie Holiday.
Starting regularly in 1936, Teddy Wilson was essentially an “added attraction” with the King Of Swing. While he was not a part of Goodman’s big band, Wilson was featured prominently in Goodman’s trio and (with the addition of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton) quartet. The trio and quartet were heard regularly on Goodman’s radio broadcasts, adding variety to the big band performances and giving the clarinetist an opportunity to cut loose and solo at length. The Benny Goodman Trio made its first recordings on July 13, 1935 (“After You’ve Gone,” “Body And Soul,” “Who,” and “Someday Sweetheart”), and their versions of “Avalon,” “Runnin’ Wild,” “Dinah” and “China Boy” were popular along with the quartet numbers, “Moonglow,” “Nagasaki,” and “I’m A Ding Dong Daddy.”
At Goodman’s famous Carnegie Hall concert of Jan. 16, 1938, the trio played “Body And Soul” while the quartet was featured on “Avalon,’ “The Man I Love,” “I Got Rhythm,” “Stompin’ At The Savoy,” and “Dizzy Spells.” After Krupa had a falling out with Goodman and left the clarinetist to form his own orchestra in Feb. 1938, Wilson continued being featured with Goodman’s small groups for another year with the trio and quartet having Dave Tough or Buddy Schutz as Krupa’s successor. The association with Benny Goodman made Teddy Wilson famous in the swing world and an influence on other up-and-coming pianists.
At the same time as his Goodman years, Teddy Wilson recorded extensively as a leader for the Brunswick label. Most famous are his recordings with Billie Holiday which actually began shortly before his first record date with the Benny Goodman Trio. During 1935-42, Wilson and Holiday recorded (if my math is correct) 89 titles together not counting alternate takes. 61 were on Wilson’s dates while the remainder were made during seven Lady Day sessions where Wilson was a sideman.
Among the many gems that they recorded together were “What A Little Moonlight Can Do,” “I Cried For You,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “This Year’s Kisses,” ‘I Must Have That Man,” “I’ll Get By,” “Mean To Me,” “Easy Living,” “A Sailboat In The Moonlight,” “When You’re Smiling,” “When Dreams Come True,” and “Laughing At Life.”
Along with Lady Day, featured along the way were such notables as trumpeters Roy Eldridge, Frankie Newton, Jonah Jones, Buck Clayton, Red Allen, Cootie Williams, Harry James, and Hot Lips Page, cornetist Bobby Hackett, tenor-saxophonists Lester Young, Chu Berry, and Ben Webster, altoists Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter, baritonist Harry Carney, and Benny Goodman. These classics have been reissued many times on sets under Billie Holiday’s name.
There were also many Teddy Wilson-led performances from the era that did not feature Billie Holiday. Some were piano solos, there were instrumentals by the all-star groups, and some had contributions from other singers including Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Ward, Midge Williams, Boots Castle, Frances Hunt, Sally Gooding, and Nan Wynn. All of the non-Billie Holiday performances (including the solo piano dates) were collected in the Mosaic seven-CD box set Classic Brunswick & Columbia Teddy Wilson Sessions 1934-1942.
Following in the footsteps of Harry James and Gene Krupa, and a few years before Lionel Hampton, in March 1939 Wilson left Benny Goodman to form a big band of his own. Unlike those three musicians, the pianist was not an extroverted showman; he just played music in a professional manner. Due to his introverted personality, the heavy competition during 1939-40, and a lack of hits, the Teddy Wilson Orchestra only lasted a year. It had five record dates (all reissued on the Mosaic set) and included such players as trumpeter Shorty Baker, tenor-saxophonist Ben Webster (before he joined Duke Ellington), and guitarist Al Casey. While the Buster Harding arrangements are excellent, the big band it failed to create much of a stir and was not around long enough to develop its own musical personality.
Wilson had better luck leading a sextet regularly at New York’s Café Society during 1940-44. His group featured Bill Coleman or Emmett Berry on trumpet, trombonist Benny Morton, and Jimmy Hamilton or Edmond Hall on clarinet. His sextet appeared with Lena Horne in the excellent film short Boogie Woogie Dream, Wilson was also on several record dates with the Benny Goodman Orchestra in 1941 (finally getting to play with the big band) and he often worked with Mildred Bailey.
At the peak of his popularity during this period, Wilson performed with the Esquire All-Stars in 1944 and was on record dates that year with Coleman Hawkins, Edmond Hall, the Benny Goodman Sextet, Red Norvo, and Charlie Shavers. Wilson was also frequently on Mildred Bailey’s Music ’Til Midnight radio series during 1944-45; those programs are long overdue to be released in full on CD. The pianist made extensive radio transcriptions at the head of a sextet that included Shavers and vibraphonist Red Norvo, and he worked with Goodman into 1946. In addition, during 1945-52, Wilson taught at Juilliard.
Having become the definitive swing pianist, one whose style was emulated by any piano players interested in playing swing, Teddy Wilson largely remained frozen in time. His style did not noticeably change during the half century after 1935. On June 6, 1945, he was on a record date led by Red Norvo that included altoist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, the two co-founders of bebop. They recorded four songs (plus many alternate takes) together. Wilson simply played in his own style and showed no signs of being influenced in the slightest by Bird and Diz. That would remain true throughout the many years left in his career.
Wilson recorded a series of piano solos along with some group numbers for the Musicraft label during 1945-46.After that he worked on CBS radio, freelanced (appearing on record dates as a featured guest including with Tommy Dorsey’s Clambake Seven and Helen Humes), and had many sessions with Goodman including playing with BG’s small group in 1948 that included the bop clarinetist Stan Hasselgard. Starting in 1950, Wilson was mostly heard leading trios, performing superior songs from the Great American Songbook in his own tasteful style.
As the years went on, Teddy Wilson’s playing was always excellent but contained few surprises. It is a pity that he could not have put together a regular quintet or sextet instead of nearly always appearing in public with a trio for his playing could seem so effortless that it almost sounded too easy. On recordings, there were some exceptions including many reunions with Goodman (including a trio album that included Krupa in 1951) and some all-star dates with one-off groups including sessions headed by Krupa, Ben Webster, Benny Carter, and Lester Young. In 1955 Wilson appeared in The Benny Goodman Story (playing himself of course), he toured the Soviet Union with the clarinetist in 1962, and the following year recorded a full album with the reunited Benny Goodman Quartet.
Despite the predictability of his playing, Teddy Wilson remained a household name throughout his life. He visited Europe and Japan frequently starting in the mid-1960s, performing in England and France as part of Norman Granz’s Jazz At The Philharmonic in 1966. In fact, the majority of Wilson’s recordings after 1963 were made in countries other than the US, including an album made in Argentina and many in Japan.
Throughout his last decades, Wilson performed as often as he liked. In 1985 he had final recorded reunions with Benny Carter (as part of the septet Swing Reunion which also included Red Norvo) and Benny Goodman. The latter project, the televised Let’s Dance: A Musical Tribute PBS program, was filmed 50 years after Wilson joined the Benny Goodman Trio and was also the clarinetist’s final recording. Needless to say, Teddy Wilson played in his timeless and unchanged swing style. He passed away on July 31, 1986, at the age of 73.
