Dick Wilson

An excellent, Coleman Hawkins-inspired tenor saxophonist, Wilson used Andy Kirk’s Clouds of Pleasure but continues to be obscure today, most likely because he died young (he was just thirty) rather than used the highest-profile rings, spending a lot of his short profession with such now-forgotten groupings as Gene Coy’s Happy Aces and Zack Whyte’s music group. Wilson’s father performed electric guitar and violin, his mom piano and electric guitar. The family transferred to Seattle, Washington when Wilson was about five. His initial device was piano. He went to senior high school in LA, then moved back again to Seattle, where he had taken lessons on alto saxophone from an area player called Joe Darensbourg. Wilson became a member of Don Anderson’s music group in Portland, Oregon in 1929. Another year he transferred back again to Seattle and performed in Darensbourg’s music group. White caused Coy over the Western world Coastline in 1933-4 and Whyte in 1934-5. Wilson became a member of Kirk’s music group in Kansas Town in 1936. Aside from a short spell in the summertime of 1939 when he was hospitalized, Wilson remained with Kirk until right before his loss of life of tuberculosis in 1941. Many if not absolutely all of his recordings had been done as an associate of Kirk’s music group.