Gerald Wilson's 1945 "Out of This World"

[ghost of miles]

There's a version of "Out of This World" on the Gerald Wilson Mosaic box, and in the liners the writer alludes to Wilson's ahead-of-its-time 1940's arrangement. Just this morning I heard it for the first time, on the Hep CD THEY ALL HAD RHYTHM 1945-46. It's over five minutes long, with a Herb Jeffries vocal, and it really does sound advanced (no surprise there, with Mr. Wilson's fingerprints on it). Definitely an arrangement worth hearing, and a disc worth picking up (lots of Benny Carter here as well).

[Michael Fitzgerald]

That early Gerald Wilson stuff is amazing. There's a Classics CD that has all the Excelsior 78s. He did a big band version of Groovin' High within months of the Gillespie original. Not only did GW arrange for the band, but he had Melba Liston too! The story I heard is that he was offered a contract (RCA, if I remember correctly) and he turned it down because he didn't think he was ready yet. So after 1947, there's one session from the fifties and then comes the PJ stuff beginning in 1961.

Definitely something to check out. Great players like Snooky Young and Hobart Dotson on trumpet, and tenor saxophonist Eddie Davis (not Lockjaw).

Mike

[mikeweil]

Yeah, that Gerald Wilson Band from the late 194o's is wild! A friend played an old SwingHouse LP reissue for me and I was hooked, and I'm not that much into big bands. Had to wait for years until the Classics CD came out. Isn't there enough material for a second one. It has only about half the numbers from the SwingHouse LP.

[DrJ]

I'll agree with these comments. I have the Classics CD with the Excelsior stuff Mike mentions, and it is quite off the beaten path for 1945-6. Not everything is compelling, but you can hear a real original beginning to mature.