TT 462: Joe Wilder's Classical Recital
Contextualizing my own Trumpet Sonata, plus a footnote about Milton Kaye
Joe Wilder was one of the great jazz trumpeters, someone who played with almost everybody in the music’s glory years. His 1956 debut album Wilder ‘n Wilder with Hank Jones, Wendell Marshall, and Kenny Clarke opens with a long workout on “Cherokee” that stands comparison to Clifford Brown.
Wilder was also one of the first black musicians to be in the pit or onstage in the traditionally all-white affairs of Broadway and the symphony. His remarkable story is documented in Ed Berger’s fine book Softly, with Feeling: Joe Wilder and the Breaking of Barriers in American Music.
In the book Wilder himself says that he was a natural classical musician, as compared to jazz, which was more of an acquired study. The exposed trumpet part in Stravinsky’s Petrushka was a Wilder specialty, and he even recorded a straight recital LP for Golden Crest in the early 1960s, a unique document from the era.
Plenty of jazz greats played lots of classical music, of course, but a recital on record? (Benny Goodman recorded concertos and chamber music, but not a recital.) It would not be until decades later and the advent of Keith Jarrett and Wynton Marsalis before this sort of thing became a bit more common. (It is still relatively rare.)
Accompanying Wilder are Milton Kaye and Harriet Wingreen. Oddly, the pianists don’t seem to be given individual credit for playing on separate pieces. If someone knows details, please write me.
(See footnote*** for more a bit more about Milton Kaye, who I briefly met in person.)
Joe Wilder was the first to record Alec Wilder’s Sonata for Trumpet, a charming example of well-made midcentury composition.
Alec Wilder was a great songwriter, and also wrote important criticism about the American Song. His formal music is rarely heard but the Sonata for Trumpet is representative: friendly and tonal in a style not far from the most most genial moods of other midcentury American composers such as Norman Dello Joio, Vincent Persichetti, and Paul Creston. Wilder’s example can also be easily be placed on the shelf next to the midcentury American trumpet sonatas of Halsey Stevens and Kent Kennan. Three movements:
The second side of the LP has encores and short pieces that show off Wilder’s tone and breath control. Wilder had previously played the whole Haydn trumpet concerto with orchestra on television; here the slow movement is preserved for posterity.
The display piece “Allegro” is from Baroque composer Joseph Fiocco, a work played by violinist Yehudi Menuhin and others of a certain era.
(It is in poor taste to juxtapose an older master with my own advertisements, but in this case perhaps the precedent is obscure enough to avoid the harshest critics…)
Joe Wilder playing the Alec Wilder sonata made quite an impression, and my own Trumpet Sonata from Playfair Sonatas a direct return to the Golden Crest serve. The middle movement is dedicated to Joe Wilder.
PLAYFAIR SONATAS (Urlicht Records) is a set of six sonatas for violin, clarinet, marimba, alto saxophone, trumpet and trombone commissioned by Piers Playfair and 23Arts Initiative. The sonatas intertwine 21st-century jazz gestures with the formal structures of Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn. The cycle is framed by a Fanfare and a Recessional featuring all seven instruments in consort.
The outer movements of each sonata are simply called "Allegro" or "Rondo" (or whatever relevant title) in the old European manner, while the middle slow movements are dedicated to a predecessor notably interested in blending "jazz" and “classical.”
Scrolling score of the Trumpet Sonata played by Tim Leopold and myself:
Trumpets are a very old instrument indeed, and they are required for both classical music and jazz. I can't live without Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Don Cherry and Woody Shaw, while one of my first classical LPs was the marvelous Vivaldi Concerto for Two Trumpets.
There are a certain number of quality trumpet sonatas. I read through the Hindemith sonata with the late Ron Miles; we also discussed pieces by Kent Kennan, Halsey Stevens, Harold Shapero, and Peter Maxwell Davies. Just recently I was admiring the Ralph Shapey Concertante for Trumpet and 10 Players.
My Trumpet Sonata is direct and fun, almost like ragtime and early jazz, although there are also a few sultry cinematic moments, including the slow moment. (I admit I might be influenced by Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Chinatown.) The middle dedication movement is Theme (for Joe Wilder). Joe Wilder was a great jazz trumpeter who also performed classical music at the highest level; his hard-to-find recital on Golden Crest included the first recording of the Alec Wilder trumpet sonata.
Tim Leopold really sounds beautiful on the piece. Artist bio:
American trumpeter Tim Leopold is a New York City-based musician renowned for his distinctive tonal palette and mastery of diverse styles. Tim has built a flourishing career as a performer, composer, and educator, excelling in both written and improvisational music, and is a highly sought-after chamber musician. He performs regularly with Alarm Will Sound and the Atlantic Brass Quintet and has previously been a member of Meridian Arts Ensemble, Tilt Brass, and Nu Deco Ensemble. A passionate advocate for new music, Tim collaborates frequently with living composers, premiering dozens of works annually. His recordings can be found on labels such as Innova, Cantaloupe, Nonesuch, TZADIK, Masterworks Broadway, 8bells, and New World Records. Tim has contributed to Broadway productions, including Chicago, Finding Neverland, and Les Misérables., is a regular performer with the Radio City Rockettes, and can be heard on various radio and television recordings.
Hailing from a musical family in New Orleans, Tim has two older brothers who are also professional trumpeters and multi-instrumentalists. He holds degrees in trumpet performance and jazz studies from the University of Kansas and the University of Oregon, respectively.
***Footnote. Milton Kaye was probably best known as a favored accompanist for Jascha Heifetz. The NY Times obit is interesting, with special credit given to a sentence one doesn’t read every day: “He earned a doctorate at New York University with a thesis on the differences in how Richard Rodgers composed for Lorenz Hart and for Oscar Hammerstein II.”
Kaye also was a good friend of my teacher Sophia Rosoff, and some 25 years ago I spent an afternoon at Kaye’s glamorous apartment near Carnegie Hall. He played me ragtime by Joseph Lamb (which can also be found on record) and a marvelous rendition of Moszkowski’s “Guitarre.” This was my first exposure to “Guitarre,” which I now think is one of Moszkowski’s best pieces and almost certainly the first time a Count Basie kind of major sixth chord saw print in piano music.
Today I listened to Milton Kaye’s Golden Crest recording of Tom Turpin’s “Harlem Rag” on YouTube. From 1897, “Harlem Rag” is one of the earliest examples of black music preserved through the medium of European notation. Kaye plays with relaxed vigor and swing phrasing not found in the score. Yeah, Milton!
