Artist Of Note
Charlie Wilson an extraordinary Pianist
Charlie "Bunns" Wilson is an artist that I met through a friend of mine, Anthony Evans.
Anthony was a serious Jazz listener, now you have to understand that we were listening to
McCoy Tyner when we were 14 years old and he just raved about Charlie Wilson.
I finally got a chance to hear Charlie play one night at a small bar in downtown Cincinnati
called 'Kaldi's.
Charlie was playing with one of the most in demand bassist in the Midwest, Big 'Jim Anderson' who is also the co-leader of the group 'Cohesion' along with the old school bi-bop drummer,
'Bobby Scott' a player whose cadence displays a profound direction within the band.
They also had 'Scott Burns' on Tenor Sax, this night, a really nice Jazz ensemble.
I introduced myself to Charlie and told him how I arrived on the scene and he said
"take a seat, my friend."
Anybody who heard Charlie play at this point in his career would be hard pressed to describe what they were hearing. I've heard people at his sets, say more than a few times,
"nobody knows, what he's playing," but I'll make a serious attempt. They were playing one of his signature tunes, that had that feel of urgency and what I heard was Scott Joplin all the way up through Monk and at times, he played all of this very fast.
This was within one composition in which they were playing. To say I was amazed would be an understatement and there is no reason to do that, at this website.
I believe you could now understand why I felt it 'neccessary' to make as many of his gigs as I could.
Charlie was always full of stories, one of them was about his time with Art Blakey, they played a gig at one of the premier Jazz clubs in Cincinnati at the time, the Viking Lounge.
Blakey, seemed to have forgotten where he had hidden the money that they made from the gig.
To make a long story, short, Charlie escorted Art back to his room and they found the money.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk along with the great Ornett Coleman and Don Cherry were some other bands
that he has worked with.
Just imagine the type of music these 'iconic' musicians were playing during their time together.
You better believe the Atlantic Jazz Consortium will do everything in our power to get
Charlie Wilson to do a concert in the Atlanta area, real soon.
By S. Bayette Allen
Charlie is playing with a really unique group of musicians now,
King Reeves-Vibes, Eddie Bayard-Saxes, Mark Lomax II-Drums
and Eddie Brookshire-Bass.
Stay tuned to the A.J.C. website, you may be surprised.
