Joe Wilder

A trumpeter of striking versatility, Joe Wilder possessed a tone of singular beauty along with an expressive gift for narrative that he traced to Benny Carter, one of his earliest sources of inspiration. Born and raised in Philadelphia, where his father directed a band, he first performed on a local radio program devoted to gifted young Black musicians. His initial professional engagement came in 1941 with Les Hite, during which he shared the trumpet section with Dizzy Gillespie; the following year he entered Lionel Hampton’s orchestra and later served as co-bandmaster of a Marine ensemble throughout World War II. After rejoining Hampton at war’s end, Wilder moved through the orchestras of Jimmie Lunceford, Lucky Millinder, Sam Donahue, and Herbie Fields, while also spending extended periods in Broadway pit bands, among them a three-year run with Guys and Dolls. He spent the opening half of 1954 with Count Basie, then held a staff position at ABC-TV from 1957 to 1973, during which he joined Benny Goodman’s tour of Russia and performed as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic. Upon departing ABC in 1973 he worked thereafter as a freelance studio musician. In his own name he cut an album for Savoy in 1956 and two for Columbia in 1959; he was also prominently featured on Benny Carter’s A Gentleman and His Music, issued by Concord in 1985, and returned in the 1990s with two recordings on the Evening Star label. Joe Wilder died in New York City in May 2014 at the age of 92.