Jazz star bringing distinct sound to Byham

Gerald Wilson is 87 and has been leading jazz bands for 60 years, but he has a new album on the racks and makes no plans to slow down.

"I just keep trying to learn things as much as I can," says the arranger-composer who will lead a show here Saturday. "I just keep trying to figure out new things."

Wilson has been figuring out those things since before World War II, when he was leading a big band that made frequent stops in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. He can recall playing at the Stanley Theater, Downtown, and the Center Ballroom, Uptown, on his way to gigs in New York City.

So making a stop at the Byham Theater, Downtown, to lead the Roger Humphries Big Band will be nothing new. Wilson isn't too concerned with leading a band he doesn't know.

"Heck, Pittsburgh always has great musicians," he says. "It's always one of the hottest jazz spots around."

For as busy as he keeps himself, Wilson is one of those jazz stars who isn't greatly known outside the genre. He has been named to the jazz masters program of the National Endowment for the Arts, has won multiple Downbeat magazine composer/arranger awards, has had his work archived by the Library of Congress and has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards.

Aside from a two-year stretch with Count Basie in the late '40s, he has been leading a band since 1944.

He is probably best known as a composer-arranger with a distinct sound and approach to music. In his career, he has gone from putting together one of the first big-band arrangements of Dizzy Gillespie's "Grooving High" to a stretch in the '70s when he did charts of rock hits such as "Sunshine of Your Love."

He wrote and his band performed a tune called "Viva Tirado," which became a Top 40 hit in 1970 by a pop band, El Chicano.

His current album, "In My Time," features originals such as a three-part suite led by a tune called "Dorian" and an instrumental showpiece, "Sax Chase." He promises both of those at the show here, which will be dominated by his music.

Whatever the tune, there is an identifiable Wilson sound: rich harmonies, distinct counterpoint, unusual voicings such as lines by muted trumpets and flute.

"There is a distinct sound, and the reason I know is that I know what goes in it. A long time ago, when I started studying arrangements, I realized there was a lot that we don't use. I sometimes use eight-part harmony when most people use four. But we have 12 notes that we can use, so use them."

Humphries hasn't worked with Wilson before, but is enthusiastic about the opportunity. He's been enjoying working with the arrangements and says Wilson's grasp of harmony and melody "make him one of the best there is"

Staying alert to the variety in music also gives Wilson's big-band creations life. He slowed down the tempo of Lalo Schifrin's "Down Here on the Ground" and found a tune the composer ignored. He took the opening piano statement of John Coltrane's "Equinox" and made it a deep trombone line.

"I like all music," he says. "I listen to all music. Back in the '70s, my three daughters were listening to things like 'Light My Fire,' and I heard it and liked the harmonies. So I did it."

He says he has tried to continue that alertness to the changes and development in music, because it is always changing.

"You gotta keep listening, because the young always are coming on," he says. Additional Information:

Details

Gerald Wilson

What : Conducting the Roger Humphries Big Band

When : 8 p.m. Saturday

Admission : $28, $25, $15

Where : Byham Theater, Downtown

Details : 412-456-6666