Wilton Fields
Wilton Lewis Felder (born August 31, 1940 in Houston , Texas - † September 27, 2015 in Whittier , California ) was an American jazz and fusion musician ( saxophone , bass ) and composer .
Live and act
During his college days in the mid-1950s, Felder founded the formation Modern Jazz Sextet together with Joe Sample and Stix Hooper , from which later the Nite Hawks and finally The Jazz Crusaders emerged . He first played the tenor saxophone , also on his solo albums. At the end of the 1960s the bass was added as a second instrument in order to be able to work more as a studio musician. In the early 1970s, the Jazz Crusaders changed their name to The Crusaders ; they had a world hit with the singer Randy Crawford with Street Life in the late 1970s . With Sample and Hooper, Felder was the leader of the band for over 30 years, which recorded their last regular album in 1991.
In addition, Felder pursued a solo career. A first album under his own name, Bullitt , was released in 1970. We All Have a Star was released in 1978, followed by seven more albums, including 1985 Secrets (with Bobby Womack as singer), which was a hit in the UK; the single No Matter How High I Get (I'll Always Be Looking Up at You) was also successful.
He also played as a guest in numerous other jazz groups. As a studio musician, he worked for artists in the pop, rock, jazz and R&B environment; He recorded (for the Motown label, among others ) songs with Marvin Gaye or The Jackson Five and worked on recordings by John Cale , Seals & Crofts , Joni Mitchell , Archie Shepp , Bobby Bryant , Blue Mitchell , Groove Holmes , Grant Green , Stanley Turrentine , Carmen McRae and Dizzy Gillespie with. By 1975 from the Crusaders have alighted Wayne Henderson came in the 1990s to renewed cooperation; with Wayne Henderson & the Next Crusade he played the album Sketches of Life .
Felder died on September 27, 2015 at the age of 75 at his home in Whittier, California of complications from multiple myeloma .
Discography (selection)
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1979 | We All Have A Star | - |
US173 (14 weeks) US |
|
| 1980 | Inherit The Wind | - |
US142 (13 weeks) US |
|
| 1985 | Secrets |
UK77 (3 weeks) UK |
US81 (16 weeks) US |
|
Singles
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
|||
| 1980 | Inherit the wind |
UK39 (5 weeks) UK |
|
| 1985 | (No Matter How High I Get) I Will Still Be Looking Up To You |
UK63 (4 weeks) UK |
feat. Bobby Womack
|
Lexigraphic entries
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz . Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
Web links
- Biographical portrait at Allmusic
- Wilton Felder in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Daniel E. Slotnik: Wilton Felder, Saxophonist for the Crusaders, Dies at 75. In: The New York Times , October 3, 2015 (English). Retrieved October 4, 2015.
- ^ Adrian Kreye: The jazz musician Wilton Felder has died. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 30, 2015. Accessed October 1, 2015.
- ↑ a b Chart sources: UK US
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fields, Wilton |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fields, Wilton Lewis (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz and fusion musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 31, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Houston , Texas , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 27, 2015 |
| Place of death | Whittier , California |