Olly Wilson

with Vincent Plush

Berkeley, California

September 21, 1983

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side a:                                                                                                                        pp. 1-21

Early musical environment--family musical skills--Harry Burleigh Choral Society--family singing quartet spirituals--piano lessons at Kroger School of Music--early interest in popular music and jazz--clarinet lessons from school teacher, Henry Morgan--purchase of first instrument in early 5Os-- piano repertoire--social stigma of playing piano in adolescence--the musical environment of St. Louis in late ‘40s--the first black radio programs-- swing band music performed in St. Louis--the Masonic Hall and Club Reviere--black church music at First Baptist Church--wide range of church choirs-- exposure to western classical music tradition--first symphony concert--improvising jazz at piano--discovery of transposition--playing clarinet in high school bands--Oliver Nelson and jazz saxophone--formal training in music theory in high school--jazz group called “Olly Wilson and his Boys”--music arranging for revues--early commitment to career in music--Lincoln University’s summer music camp--entering Washington University for B.A. degree in music--desegregation following 1954 Supreme Court decision--recruitment of minority students and effects at Washington University--scholarship at Washington University in 1955.

Side b:                                                                                                                       pp. 21-42

Studying clarinet with Earl Bates--string bass with Henry Lowe--later focusing on double bass and jazz piano-- Oliver Nelson--studying with Robert Wykes--beginning of interest in serious composition--playing jazz on weekends--Chuck Berry--jazz of the ‘50s: Coltrane, Coleman, etc.--first trio, for flute, alto, and piano (opus 2)--Opus 1: Quartet for flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and bassoon--teachers as compositional models--East Coast, West Coast, and the Midwest--attending Univ. of Illinois--Harvey Sollberger--Jim Tenney--Lejaren Hiller and the Illiac Suite--Cetus--working in a basic electronic studio--The 18 Hands of Jerome Harris--Eugene Redman--composition teacher Robert Kelley--Florida A & M, 1960

Side c:                                                                                                                        pp. 42

Philip Bezanson--atmosphere at Univ. of Iowa in early ‘60s--Wry Fragments--Chanson Innocent--Oberlin, 1965--faculty composers at Oberlin--Three Movements for Orchestra--Structures--third-stream music--Oliver Nelson’s “other” music--Civil Rights and Black Revolutionary Movement--Black Mass--Black Martyrs--the artist (musician), politics, and human experience--In Memoriam Martin Luther King, Jr.--integrating electronic and acoustic sound--Spirit Song, Oakland Symphony commission--musical organization--West African trip, 1971-72--studying African music, and its relationship to the blues

Side d:                                                                                                                       pp.  -48

Teaching duties--Black Music in Our Culture--Berkeley Ensemble--Trio (1977)-- Berkeley Contem9orary Chamber Players (BCCP)--Sometimes--William Brown--pieces incorporating live and electronic sounds: Piano Piece, Echoes--Akwan--Reflections--Lumina--1980-81 Boston Symphony Orchestra commission--Trilogy--creating and simulating musical time--East Coast vs. West Coast--the Berkeley community over the years.

AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                                  144  e-g

Olly Wilson

with Vivian Perlis

June 18, l997

Oakland, CA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side e                                                                                                             pp. 1-18

Piece for Four--Burt Turetzky--the Miles [Davis] movement of Piece for Four--Sometimes--Echoes--In Memoriam Martin Luther King-- the singer William Brown--

the African-American tradition, including spirituals--Spirit Song--Of Visions and Truth--100th anniversary of Boston Symphony commission:  Sinfonia--Voices--serialism in Sinfonia--the second movement: “An Elegy in Memory of Olly Wilson Sr. and Calvin Simmons”--a recording of it--Wilson’s compositional process--the process of copying out the score--his teaching career--the university composer--writing music for the performers.

Side f                                                                                                             pp. 18-36

Of Visions and Truth--style in the twentieth century--No More--William Brown--Houston Fanfare--So Many Notes in So Much Time--Moe Fragmenti--Expansions II--A City Called Heaven--Of Visions and Truth--”I’ve Been Buked and I’ve Been Scorned”--the position of the black person--major composers in the twentieth century--black American composers in this century--Harry Burleigh.

Side g                                                                                                             pp. 36-49

William Grant Still--Howard Swanson--Ulysses Kay--Noel Da Costa--Alvin Singleton--Anthony Davis--crossover--ethnic identity--Wilson’s use of the voice--Of Visions and Truth--the black poet Henry Dumas--Claude McKay--I Shall Not Be Moved--Maya Angelou--Viola Concerto--Expansions III--Soweto’s Children--Shango Memory--Fanfare for a New Millennium--Hold On--election to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters--major honors in recent years:  the Guggenheim, the National Association of Negro Musicians--the Evelyn Hemmings Chambers Chair--the “biggest kick” in being a composer.