Phillips Elder Wilson, Jr. (born January 19, 1937) is a jazz trombonist, arranger, and teacher. He has taught at the Berklee College of Music and the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on H ...

. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and New England Conservatory.

Career

He began on piano but was advised to switch to trombone due to his having a mild form of dyslexia. This condition did not hamper his music, and by fifteen he had turned professional. He played for

Herb Pomeroy Irving Herbert Pomeroy III (April 15, 1930 – August 11, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, teacher, and the founder of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble. Early life Pomeroy was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States. He began playing ...

's band from 1955 to 1957 and then toured with

the Dorsey Brothers The Dorsey Brothers were an American studio dance band, led by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. They started recording in 1928 for OKeh Records. History The Dorsey Brothers recorded songs for the dime store labels (Banner, Cameo, Domino, Jewel, Oriole, ...

. In 1960 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served on NORAD Band. Later, he worked with

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

and in the 1960s wrote music for

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...

. He formed an ensemble that became one of the most well-regarded college jazz bands.Trombones Online
Wilson played with Louis Armstrong at the 1964 Grammy Awards. His arrangement of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" for Buddy Rich received a Grammy Award nomination. The City of Boston proclaimed December 9, 1995 Phil Wilson Day for his contributions to jazz education. In April 2004, Wilson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music during the 40th anniversary celebration of his Rainbow Band. In 2014, Wilson created an online video series with Paul The Trombonist that documented Wilson's pedagogy.

Notable students

Terri Lyne Carrington Terri Lyne Carrington (born August 4, 1965) is an American jazz drummer, composer, producer, and educator. She has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, Yellowjackets, and ma ...

Cyrus Chestnut Cyrus Chestnut (born January 17, 1963) is an American jazz pianist, composer and producer. In 2006, Josh Tyrangiel, music critic for '' Time'', wrote: "What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon note ...

Hal Crook Hal Crook (born 28 July 1950 in Providence, Rhode Island) is a jazz trombonist. He has a degree from the Berklee College of Music and is considered to be a leading teacher and author in the field of jazz improvisation. Hal was a professor at Ber ...

* Roy Hargrove * Aubrey Logan *

Delfeayo Marsalis Delfeayo Marsalis (; born July 28, 1965) is an American jazz trombonist, record producer and educator. Life and career Marsalis was born in New Orleans, the son of Dolores (née Ferdinand) and Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr., a pianist and music pro ...

Elliot Mason Elliot Mason (born 13 January 1977) is an English jazz trombonist. He also plays the keyboard and the bass trumpet. He has been praised by such musicians as Michael Brecker for his technical facility and innovative harmonically complex improvisa ...

Makoto Ozone is a Japanese jazz pianist. Career He was born in Kobe, Japan. He began playing organ at two and by seven was an improviser. He appeared on Japanese television with his father from 1968 to 1970. At twelve he switched to piano after being impre ...

Mika Pohjola Mika Pohjola ( (born December 1, 1971) is a Finnish-born jazz pianist and composer who resides in Stockholm. He is one of the most prolific Scandinavian jazz musicians in his generation. Biography Childhood in Helsinki, Finland 1971-87 Mika ...

* Paul The Trombonist *

John Scofield John Scofield (born December 26, 1951), sometimes referred to as "Sco", is an American guitarist and composer whose music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention in th ...

* Ernie Watts

Discography

* 1968: ''Prodigal Sun'' (Freeform) * 1975: ''The Sound of the Wasp'' (ASI) * 1976: ''That's All'' (Famous Door) with

John Bunch John Bunch (December 1, 1921 – March 30, 2010) was an American jazz pianist. Early life Born and raised in Tipton, Indiana, a small farming community, Bunch studied piano with George Johnson, a Hoosier jazz pianist. By the age of 14, he ...

* 1977: ''Live and Cookin'' (Outrageous) with Howie Smith * 1980: ''New York Axis'' (Famous Door) with John Bunch,

Vic Dickenson Victor Dickenson (August 6, 1906 – November 16, 1984) was an American jazz trombonist. His career began in the 1920s and continued through musical partnerships with Count Basie (1940–41), Sidney Bechet (1941), and Earl Hines. Life and car ...

, Butch Miles * 1980: ''Fruits'' (

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...

) * 1983: ''Live!! at the Berklee Performance Center'' (Shiah) with

* 1983: ''Live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase'' (Shiah) * 1985: ''Latin America Tour'' (Shiah) * 1989: ''The Wizard of Oz Suite'' ( Capri) * 1990: ''Pal Joey Suite'' (Capri) * 1995: ''AC-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive: Arlen Songs'' (Seaside) * 2005: ''The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim'' (Capri)

As sideman

With

* '' Woody Herman–1963'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, 1963)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Phil American jazz trombonists Male trombonists American music arrangers Berklee College of Music faculty 1937 births Living people 21st-century trombonists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Matteson-Phillips Tubajazz Consort members