by Jason Mellard and Alan Schaefer
This week in texas music history, a key Billie Holiday and Benny Goodman collaborator gets his start in Central Texas.
On November 24, 1912, pianist and composer Teddy Wilson was born in Austin. One of the central figures of jazz in the 1930s and beyond, Wilson played early dates with Louis Armstrong before working with Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa in a band that was one of the first integrated jazz groups to perform publicly in the United States. Wilson’s stylish, delicate approach also led to a fruitful collaboration with vocalist Billie Holiday, born of their performances together at the legendary New York nightclub Café Society.
While Wilson left Texas as a child, he maintained a connection to Texas jazz musicians. Dallas natives and pianists Red Garland and Cedar Walton often cited Wilson as an influence. In 1956, Wilson joined Austin native and bassist Gene Ramey, the legendary tenor saxophonist Lester Young, and drummer Jo Jones for a session that resulted in the classic Pres and Teddy LP.
Wilson even returned to Austin in 1966 for an engagement at the Longhorn Jazz Festival at the old Disch baseball field on Barton Springs Road, one of Austin’s first modern music festivals. The event also included Dizzy Gillespie, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Coleman Hawkins. Wilson reunited there with jazz trumpeter and former Anderson High Yellowjacket Kenny Dorham and legendary Anderson band director Alvin O. Patterson.
Along with trumpeters Kenny Dorham and Martin Banks, bassist Gene Ramey, and Nat King Cole guitarist Oscar Moore, Teddy Wilson led the way for Austin musicians to tackle the wide world of jazz.
Sources:
Michael Corcoran. Austin Music is a Scene Not a Sound: An Illustrated History of the First 100 Years. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2024.
Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl in Laurie E. Jasinski, Gary Hartman, Casey Monahan, and Ann T. Smith, eds. The Handbook of Texas Music. Second Edition. Denton, TX: Texas State Historical Association, 2012.
