Saxophonist will perform today at Guest Artist Series

WHAT: 10th Annual Fall Guest Artists Series, with saxophonist Steve Wilson, along with the NCCU Jazz Ensemble and Vocal Jazz Ensemble

WHEN: Today, 8 p.m.

WHERE: B.N. Duke Auditorium, North Carolina Central University

ADMISSION: General admission tickets are $15. To purchase, call 530-5170.

OTHER INFORMATION: Wilson will give a master class and lecture today at noon in the band room of B.N. Duke Auditorium. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.

By Cliff Bellamy

cbellamy@heraldsun.com; 419-6744

DURHAM -- Alto and soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson appears to be feeling pretty good about what he's hearing from the North Carolina Central University Jazz Ensemble. During a rehearsal with the ensemble this week, directed by Jazz Studies Director Ira Wiggins, Wilson frequently smiled and nodded approval at what he heard from the horns and rhythm section. He gave an approving nod after a bass player's solo, and a broad smile at the final chord on composer Oliver Nelson's tune "Back Woods."

Wilson soloed several times too during this Wednesday rehearsal. He took solos on "Back Woods," and the blistering "Project S" by Jimmy Heath before tackling Kenny Dorham's composition "No End." At the end of that last piece, as the band was preparing for a break, Wilson got his first applause from the students.

Wilson will be the guest soloist today for the Jazz Studies' Program's 10th Annual Fall Guest Artist Series.

Wednesday's rehearsal marked the most recent installment in a musical relationship that Wilson has had with Wiggins since the 1980s. Wilson and Wiggins first met while students in the jazz studies program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, when Wilson was an undergraduate and Wiggins was doing graduate work. Both met saxophonist Jimmy Heath, who is a common influence, and who also has been a guest artist at NCCU.

Wilson praised Wiggins' musicianship and his skills as a teacher during a recent phone interview from New York. "He's patient. He lets the music come to him," Wilson said of Wiggins the teacher. In Richmond, Wiggins, who plays saxophones and flute, would switch between guitar and reeds. "He's a fantastic saxophone soloist and a great arranger. He can arrange for large and small ensembles, and exhibits that same soulfulness and patience in his musicianship," Wilson said.

Wilson also was guest artist at NCCU in the early 1990s. More recently, he was artist in residence at UNC during that school's Carolina Jazz Festival in 2001 and 2007.

He has seven recordings under his name, and numerous credits on other artists' records -- Chick Corea and Dave Holland among them. His working quartet includes pianist Bruce Barth, bassist Ed Howard and Adam Cruz on drums. He leads several different ensembles, among them The Zawinul Project, which performs music of the late Austrian composer and Weather Report cofounder Joe Zawinul.

He is on the faculty of The Manhattan School of Music and other schools. He says students of jazz generally are "very open and receptive, and very eager to learn." Modern students have multiple resources in the age of the Internet for learning about harmony and theory.

But there is one element missing. The apprenticeship system, in which musicians learned under a leader like Duke Ellington, is gone. What students miss, Wilson said, "is the cultural tradition, which has become more difficult to impart." As a teacher, guest artist and clinician, Wilson said he and others like him try to fill that gap as best as they can.

"I think even with the best of intentions, there's no way academia can fill that void of hands-on experience."

His Zawinul group began in 2008 when he was asked to perform in a concert sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum. Wilson said Zawinul's broad influence is in many ways underestimated. He cited his range of styles -- from bop to gospel and funk, and later as one of the "founding fathers of what we call jazz-rock fusion" -- as evidence of that influence. "His evolution and range as a musician is really fascinating."

In December, Wilson will play concerts nationally that pay tribute to Zawinul, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. Zawinul's music requires "some insight to be able to play it successfully," so audiences are not likely to hear any Zawinul pieces durign today's concert, but they may hear some Davis or Coltrane, he said.

This year, Wilson had an orchestral debut, performing Heitor Villa Lobos' "Fanstasia for Soprano Saxophone" with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra. Next year he will return to that festival, playing a work that one of his students at Manhattan is composing. "We're looking forward to expanding in the orchestral world," he said. "It's a wonderful format to be performing in."