Gerald Wilson Orchestra

Celebrate Gerald Wilson’s 70th anniversary as a big band leader with this very special performance.  Wilson is not only recognized as a great band leader, but also as an arranger, having written arrangements for the bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.

From time to time, Gerald Wilson seems like one of Los Angeles' better-kept secrets, an unusually skillful, imaginative, and charismatic bandleader who hasn't received his due outside the West Coast. His arrangements have distinctive, often complex voicings and harmonies, rooted in swing and bop, yet always forward-looking and energetic in tone. He likes to play around with structures, which contributes to the restless quality in much of his music, and being a bullfight aficionado, he was one of the first arrangers to make use of Spanish influences. He has been consistently able to attract top-rank musicians to his bands, who play with immaculate precision and brio for the flamboyantly gesticulating maestro.