Jimmy Wilson (pianist)

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Jimmy Wilson is an American pianist and rockabilly musician . Wilson was a studio musician for Sun Records and also played in Billy Lee Riley's Little Green Men .

Life

Billy Lee Riley described Wilson as follows: “Wilson was different from anyone I knew. He had nothing in common with anyone in the world. One minute he came in and the next he was gone. " . Wilson first appeared on Sun Records in April 1956 when Riley recorded his first single for Sun and Wilson played in its backing band. At the end of the year, Sam hired Phillips Wilson for regular work as a session musician . For the next two years, he played on recordings by Johnny Cash , Warren Smith , Billy Lee Riley, Ray Scott and others. Wilson showed Sam Phillips that you can create a harder sound with the piano by attaching thumbtacks to the hammers of the piano. This method was later used on Sun recordings and contributed to the well-known "Sun sound". Wilson also performed professionally in Memphis under the name "Jan Dillard".

His former colleagues agree in interviews that Wilson was mentally deranged. He lived in a small apartment above Taylor's Café on Union Avenue, right next to the Sun studio, at times with bassist and Sun musician Jimmy Evans , his only known friend. Gene Simmons recalled that Wilson had a passion for guns and preferred to keep his gun collection busy than work. On one tour Wilson fired from the tour bus at passers-by, another time he ignited a self-made rocket from his apartment; then he was kicked out of the house.

Wilsons had a pet raccoon that he stabbed to death in the studio one day and then left there. On stage, Wilson showed the way of stopping in the middle of a song or playing something completely different. Billy Lee Riley recalled it this way: “I saw him on stage playing a rock number just fantastic. Then, all of a sudden, he changed his mind and just stopped playing and just stared straight ahead. Then he started playing Chopin or something in the middle of the piece . We yelled at him and he played rock'n'roll again. "

Gordon Terry , who accepted Wilson in his band "The Tennesseans" in 1958, must have had similar experiences . In Memphis, Wilson borrowed money from acquaintances and then left Memphis to move to California . He played with Terry's band at the Foothill Club in Los Angeles until around 1960 and can also be seen on a broadcast of the Town Hall Party , where he first performed with Gordon Terry and later accompanied Johnny Cash on the piano.

Wilson later married the daughter of "Nudie the Rodeo Tailor". "He played with us for five years and nobody knows where he came from or what happened to him," Billy Lee Riley later said.

literature

  • Colin Escott & Martin Hawkins: Good Rockin 'Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock'n'Roll (1991); St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-08199-5

Original quotes

  1. ^ "Wilson was not like anyone I knew. He had nothing in common with anyone in the world. He was in one minute and out the next "
  2. ↑ "I've seen him on stage playing a rock number just great, then, all of a sudden, he'd have a change come over him and he'd just quit playing and be staring straight ahead. Then he'd start playing Chopin or something right in the middle of the song. We'd holler at him and he'd start playing rock'n'roll again. "
  3. ↑ "He played with us for five years and nobody knows where he came from or what happened to him."

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wilson, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dillard, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pianist and rockabilly musician
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century