Music
Gerald Wilson
1918–2014 · jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, educator
Big-band leader and arranger for Ellington, Ella and Billie Holiday, who came to Detroit at 16, graduated from Cass Tech, and returned in 2009 with a suite named “Detroit.”
- Born
Shelby, Mississippi- Died
Los Angeles, California
aged 96- Birth name
- Gerald Stanley Wilson
- Detroit years
- 1934–1939
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Gerald Wilson was born in Shelby, Mississippi, and moved to Detroit at 16 so he could attend a better school. He graduated from Cass Technical High School, whose music program was already producing professionals; saxophonist Wardell Gray was a classmate. From Detroit he went on the road with Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra, then settled in Los Angeles in the early 1940s, where he led his own big bands for more than six decades. He wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson, and he taught jazz history to generations of students. He never forgot his Detroit schooling. In September 2009, at 90, he conducted his eight-movement suite “Detroit,” commissioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival for its 30th anniversary; one movement, “Cass Tech,” honors his old high school.
Highlights
- Moved to Detroit at 16 and graduated from Cass Technical High School
- Classmate of saxophonist Wardell Gray
- Arranged for Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Ray Charles
- Premiered his suite “Detroit” at the 2009 Detroit Jazz Festival
- The suite includes a movement titled “Cass Tech”
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1934–1930s
Cass Technical High School
The selective downtown high school he graduated from; he honored it in 2009 with the movement “Cass Tech” in his Detroit suite.