Joe Wilder

Joe Wilder

Joe Wilder (born February 22, 1922 in Colwyn, Pennsylvania) is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He best known for his beautiful tone and lyrical style.

Wilder was awarded the Temple University Jazz Master's Hall of Fame Award in 2006. The National Endowment for the Arts honored Joe Wilder with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award for 2008.

Biography

Wilder was born into a musical family led by his father Curtis, a bassist and bandleader in Philadelphia. Wilder's first performances took place on the radio program, "Parisian Tailor's Colored Kiddies of the Air." He and the other young musicians were backed up by such illustrious bands as Duke Ellington's and Louis Armstrong's that were also then playing at the Lincoln Theater. Wilder studied at the Mastbaum School of Music in Philadelphia, but turned to jazz when he felt that there was little future for an African American classical musician. At age 19, Wilder joined his first touring big band, Les Hite's band.

Wilder was one of the first thousand African Americans to serve in the Marines during World War II. He worked first in Special Weapons and eventually became Assistant Bandmaster at the headquarters' band. Following the war during the 1940 and early 1950s, he played in the orchestras of Jimmie Lunceford, Herbie Fields, Sam Donahue, Lucky Millinder, Noble Sissle, Dizzy Gillespie, and finally with the Count Basie Orchestra. From 1957 to 1974, Wilder did studio work for ABC-TV, New York, and in the pit orchestras for Broadway musicals, while building his reputation as a soloist with his albums for Savoy (1956) and Columbia (1959). His Jazz from Peter Gunn (1959), features ten song from Henry Mancini ("Peter Gunn") television score in melodic and swinging fashion with a quartet. He was also a regular sideman with such musicians as NEA Jazz Masters Hank Jones, Gil Evans, and Benny Goodman. He became a favorite with vocalists and played for Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Johnny Mathis, Harry Belafonte, Eileen Farrell, Tony Bennett, and many others. Wilder returned to school in the 1960s, earning a bachelor's degree at the Manhattan School of Music where he was also principal trumpet with the school's symphony orchestra under conductor Jonel Perlea. At that time, he performed on several occasions with the New York Philharmonic under Andre Kostolanitz and Pierre Boulez. Wilder played lead for the Symphony Of The New World from 1965 to 1971.

He appeared on The Cosby Show 1986, episode "Play It Again, Russell", is a reference to "Play it again, Sam", a quote from Casablanca (1942). played the trumpet in the Malcolm X Orchestra in Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" (1992). Since 1991 he returned as a leader and recorded three albums for Evening Star.

Selected discography

Year	Title	Genre	Label
2003	Among Friends	Jazz	Evening Star
1993	No Greater Love	Jazz	Evening Star
1991	Alone With Just My Dreams	Jazz	Evening Star
1959	Jazz from "Peter Gunn"	Jazz	Columbia
1959	The Pretty Sound of Joe Wilder	Jazz	Columbia
1956	Softly With Feeling	Jazz	Savoy
1956	Wilder N' Wilder	Jazz	Savoy