Biography
Born in the South, pianist Buster Wilson relocated to Los Angeles during childhood and thereafter concentrated nearly all his professional efforts within the New Orleans-style jazz community that flourished beneath the Hollywood Hills. His time as a working musician proved brief; pneumonia complications claimed his life at age fifty-two in 1949. Throughout most of the decade he performed alongside bandleader Kid Ory, with the single exception of 1946, when illness forced a temporary withdrawal.
As a young adult Wilson began taking jobs around Los Angeles with Dink Johnson’s Five Hounds of Jazz, an ensemble that occasionally drew more notice from local animal-control officers than from paying listeners. He later formed a cooperative group with saxophonist and clarinetist Charlie Lawrence; the ensemble eventually evolved into the Sunnyland Jazz Orchestra. Both Wilson and Lawrence subsequently joined Paul Howard’s orchestra, also billed at times as Paul Howard’s Quality Serenaders.
Wilson entered the rhythm section of Lionel Hampton’s first large ensemble in 1935. That prominent association has not overshadowed the rest of his recorded output the way similar stints have for certain other Hampton alumni. Instead, his documented work with Kid Ory and reedman Bunk Johnson stands on roughly equal footing with his scattered appearances across numerous anthologies. During the latter half of the 1930s he also performed unaccompanied piano engagements throughout the Los Angeles region. The American Music label later issued, in 1996, a retrospective devoted to his final recordings, covering the years 1947 through 1949.
As a young adult Wilson began taking jobs around Los Angeles with Dink Johnson’s Five Hounds of Jazz, an ensemble that occasionally drew more notice from local animal-control officers than from paying listeners. He later formed a cooperative group with saxophonist and clarinetist Charlie Lawrence; the ensemble eventually evolved into the Sunnyland Jazz Orchestra. Both Wilson and Lawrence subsequently joined Paul Howard’s orchestra, also billed at times as Paul Howard’s Quality Serenaders.
Wilson entered the rhythm section of Lionel Hampton’s first large ensemble in 1935. That prominent association has not overshadowed the rest of his recorded output the way similar stints have for certain other Hampton alumni. Instead, his documented work with Kid Ory and reedman Bunk Johnson stands on roughly equal footing with his scattered appearances across numerous anthologies. During the latter half of the 1930s he also performed unaccompanied piano engagements throughout the Los Angeles region. The American Music label later issued, in 1996, a retrospective devoted to his final recordings, covering the years 1947 through 1949.