Slept through the ‘60s
Wilson treasures value of jazz music for decades

By Brandon Ortiz
Skiff Staff

Back when the Beatles were in, the Rolling Stones were all the rage and Bob Dylan was telling it like it was, Curt Wilson wasn’t listening.
He was sleeping.

“My wife says I slept through the ‘60s musically,” said Wilson, the director of jazz studies and professor of music. “I was not into the music that was popular then. At the time I was listening to jazz or classical music. That was the only kind of music I bought and certainly the only thing I listened to on the radio.”

Curt Wilson, director of jazz studies, holds the album “Transforming Traditions” by the Trumpets. The album, for which Wilson arranged a piece, was nominated for a Grammy in 1986.

While society’s taste in music has changed since then, Wilson’s hasn’t.

Wilson is in his 25th year as a faculty member at TCU. He has been at TCU for 32 of the last 42 years, attending the university from 1959 to 1966 to earn an undergraduate degree in music education and a master’s degree in theory composition.

Wilson said he is still as passionate about jazz today as he was back then.

He said he was turned onto jazz at an early age. Although Wilson began taking clarinet when he was in fourth grade, the Fort Worth native wasn’t into jazz until he saw a junior high dixieland jazz band play. He has been into jazz ever since.

His love of music led him to join a local musicians union after high school and enroll at TCU.

At that time, Wilson said there was a lot of work for good college musicians. And he took advantage of it.

Wilson regularly played at the historic Lake Worth Casino Ballroom, where he said any known band that came into Texas was sure to end up.

But sometimes he took advantage of the available work a little too much, he said. Wilson performed in Roswell, N.M., on a Sunday night — the night before he had a test back at TCU.

“I had a 10 a.m. music history test the next morning,” Wilson said. “Another TCU musician and I slept in the back of a trailer after the gig. Two guys were driving, and we were going to be back in time to make the classes. They got lost and we ended up in San Antonio.

“Needless to say, I missed the test.”

Despite the one mishap, Wilson said he managed to make a B in the class. And he still graduated on time.

After earning his masters in 1966, Wilson toured for two years with the Fred Waring Pennsylvanians, an eclectic group that played everything from opera to rock ‘n’ roll.

The money was good, Wilson said, but something was missing. Wilson eventually left the group to teach at Valley City State College in Valley City, N.D.

“I don’t know if anything turned me onto the teaching so much as it was a way for me to stay involved in music,” Wilson said. “After two straight years of nothing but performing, I knew I didn’t want that to be my sole source of existence. I sure did get tired of riding a bus.”

Wilson left Valley City to become director of bands at Ashland College in Ashland, Ohio. After four years of snow and cold, Wilson came back to TCU.

“TCU is a good place to work,” Wilson said. “Most people tend to miss this area if they leave it. It was a good job opportunity. I really did get tired of shoveling snow in North Dakota and Ohio.”

Wilson became assistant director of bands and assistant professor of music in 1976. In 1980, he was given the title of director of jazz studies, although he said his job remained the same.

He said his love of teaching is as strong as his love of music, making his job enjoyable.

“I would recommend it to anyone,” Wilson said.

In 1986, Wilson arranged “Short Stop”, which was on the Grammy nominated album “Transforming Traditions” by Trumpets, a jazz group from San Francisco. Mike Vax, the leader of the group, asked Wilson to arrange a song for the group. Wilson was overjoyed when he found out the album had been nominated for a Grammy.

“I was very happy,” Wilson said. “But as Mike told me, ‘Don’t quit your day gig.’ I am glad I didn’t.”

Wilson has played with many groups and performers, including the Tex Beneke-Glenn Miller Orchestra, Cal Lewiston Orchestra and Don Henley.

He has also appeared with, among others, Bob Hope, the Osmond Brothers and Bill Cosby.

John Dyer, a senior religion and history major, has know Wilson for the past four years. Dyer said Wilson has a good teaching style.

“He has a very laid back approach to teaching,” Wilson said. “He likes to have fun and joke around, but he is serious about the music. You can tell that he loves it and appreciates the music. He takes a kind of forceful approach, and you feel like you’ve got to practice and you have the desire to be good because you want him pleased.”

Wilson’s love of music helps him teach better, Dyer said.

“Every time I have had a conversation with him in someway or another it has led to some famous jazz artist or some experience he has had,”

Dyer said. “He has so many anecdotes and things like that about his life with jazz music. You can tell he views everything through music.”

Dyer was not in jazz band when he was in high school, and he said he struggled adapting to jazz his first year. He said that with Wilson’s help, he was motivated to get better.

“I felt kind of a lull in my music,” Dyer said. “I wasn’t really inspired anymore. I didn’t have anywhere to go and he just gave me a whole new drive and a whole new passion. He (taught) me to love jazz and to keep playing it. And to want to play it.”

Wilson said watching students develop is what drives him.

“When I go into a jazz ensemble or rehearsal with my students, I sometimes can’t contain myself,” Wilson said. “I can’t wait to hear what it is going to sound like.

“I get so motivated by what students will bring into me. If a teacher doesn’t approach their discipline as a give and take and a constant learning situation on their part, then I think they are missing the beat, too.”

Wilson learns right along with his students. Every semester, Wilson said he learns a new perspective on what he is teaching. This, in turn, motivates him further, he said.

“What keeps my enthusiasm alive is that there is so much that I do not know,” Wilson said. “I learn from my students — what they have written. And I learn things by explaining things to them.”

Over the years, Wilson has become a better teacher, he said.

“I have been doing this for 33 years and I feel that I am better now than I have ever been,” Wilson said. “There is nothing like experience. I think I do nearly everything better now than I did 10 years ago or 20 years ago or 30 years ago. I have not lost one ounce of energy. I guess I should consider myself lucky for that.

“I think sometimes a professor is lucky to be along for the ride. Feel fortunate.”

Once the learning process stops, so does Wilson’s career as a teacher, he said.

“I amaze myself at how things work musically now that I didn’t think (would) worked 20 years ago,” Wilson said. “Everyday is an eye opener. Once I shut that out, I’ll retire. When I shut down from that, I’ll hang it up because I won’t be any good to anybody.”

Brandon Ortiz
b.p.ortiz@student.tcu.edu