Wilson, Steve

Wilson, Steve, jazz soprano and alto saxophonist; b. Hampton, Va., Feb. 9, 1961. He began his formal training at age 12 and played in various R&B and funk bands through his teens. His interest in jazz developed during his last years of high school and continued to grow while attending the Va. Commonwealth Univ. in Richmond. He was lead altoist with the a ward-winning VCU Jazz Orch. In 1986 Wilson landed a chair in the band O.T.B (Out of the Blue), a sextet of promising young jazz players sponsored by Blue Note records. In the summer of 1987, he moved to N.Y. and continued performing and recording with O.T.B. until 1989. In 1988 drummer Ralph Peterson, another O.T.B. alumnus, asked him to join his quintet and then his “Fo’tet.” He also toured the U.S. and Europe for one year with the Lionel Hampton Orch. (1989-90). Since the late 1980s, he has been busy touring and/or recording with a slew of jazz performers, both young and old; notable associations include two years with the American Jazz Orch. (1990-92), Rennee Rosnes (from 1990), and the Smithsonian Jazz Orch. (from 1991). In 1991 he became an adjunct faculty member in the jazz program at William Paterson Coll. He has led his own quintet through the 1990s. In 1998 he was performing regularly at Smalls in N.Y. with the Avishai Cohen group, where Chick Corea heard and hired him at the end of the year. In December 1998 he began touring and recording as part of Chick Corea and Origin.

Discography

New York Summit (1991); Blues for Marcus (1993).

—Lewis Porter