Over the course of an extensive professional life, clarinetist and saxophonist Bob Wilber remained committed to sustaining classic swing and pre-bop jazz traditions. Drawing from Sidney Bechet, Benny Goodman, and Johnny Hodges, he shaped a personal voice that surfaced first through his Wildcats ensembles during the 1940s and 1950s, then on the 1960 album Blowin' the Blues Away and the 1974 release Soprano Summit alongside Kenny Davern, a frequent collaborator. Respected by established players, he performed with Wild Bill Davison, Muggsy Spanier, Pee Wee Russell, George Wettling, and additional veterans. He contributed music to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1920s jazz film The Cotton Club, wrote the 1987 memoir Music Was Not Enough, and continued recording with traditional figures on projects such as 1977’s Bob Wilber and the Scott Hamilton Quartet and 2010’s Bob Wilber Is Here!, which featured Bucky Pizzarelli, Nicki Parrott, and Antti Sarpila. Residing in his adopted homeland of England, he remained active into his eighties with festival appearances until his death in 2019.
Born in New York City in 1928, Wilber began performing jazz while still a teenager, sitting in regularly at Jimmy Ryan’s. In high school he organized his first ensemble, which included pianist Dick Wellstood. He soon became Sidney Bechet’s protégé and directed his youthful Wildcats unit, issuing early recordings such as 1949’s Bob Wilber & His Jazz Band and 1951’s Young Men with Horns. The close connection to Bechet encouraged Wilber to cultivate an independent approach. He took lessons from Lennie Tristano and assembled the Six, whose attempt to update early jazz appeared on the 1955 album The Six. After that group disbanded he performed Dixieland with Eddie Condon and spent a year in 1957 with Bobby Hackett’s band. Throughout the 1960s he worked freelance, collaborating with Ralph Sutton and releasing Blowin' the Blues Away, which featured trumpeter Clark Terry, along with New Clarinet in Town. In 1968 he helped establish the World’s Greatest Jazz Band with Bob Haggart and Yank Lawson. The next year he saluted one of his influences on The Music of Hoagy Carmichael.
While continuing with the World’s Greatest Jazz Band, he launched Soprano Summit in 1973 together with clarinetist Kenny Davern. Among the decade’s leading swing-focused ensembles, the group issued several acclaimed recordings, among them 1974’s Soprano Summit I, and performed widely in concert. During the same period Wilber joined his wife, singer Pug Horton, in Bechet Legacy, which also included trumpeters Glenn Zottola or Randy Sandke.
After moving to England, Wilber enjoyed a productive 1980s appearing frequently with traditional and repertory groups and issuing albums such as 1981’s Music of King Oliver, 1982’s Ode to Bechet, and 1983’s Reflections. He again supplied music for Francis Ford Coppola’s Harlem-set 1920s drama The Cotton Club and published his candid autobiography Music Was Not Enough in 1987. The following year he directed an ensemble at Carnegie Hall marking the fiftieth anniversary of Benny Goodman’s celebrated concert.
In 1990 he reunited with Davern for Summit Reunion and later issued further recordings under his own name, including 1994’s Dancing on a Rainbow, 1995’s Bean: Bob Wilber's Tribute to Coleman Hawkins, and 1996’s Nostalgia on the Arbors label. He paid homage to arranger Fletcher Henderson on 2000’s Fletcher Henderson's Unrecorded Arrangements for Benny Goodman and joined vibraphonist Dany Doriz for 2002’s Memories of You: Lionel and Benny. He sustained an active schedule of touring and recording, performing once more with Soprano Summit and releasing 2010’s Bob Wilber Is Here! alongside Bucky Pizzarelli, Antti Sarpila, and Nicki Parrott. In 2012 he joined reed players Sarpila and Pieter Meijers on The Three Amigos, and the next year he appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival with pianist Bill Charlap’s trio and clarinetist Anat Cohen. Wilber died at his home in Chipping Camden, England, on August 4, 2019, at the age of 91.
