Dr. Wheelz’ Archives
In the course of Bert Wilson’s long and obscure career, Bert has made a
sincere effort to document the music he and his colleages/cohorts/"partners
in crime" were playing. Regardless of whether the world cared at all about
the music being created, the musicians felt compelled to create it. Bert Wilson
has reached the age of 65 and is reflecting back upon this body of work. We’ve
pulled out the old reel-to-reel, and begun spinning these tapes from the 1970s
& ‘80s (and a few from the late 60s). It’s a good body of work. These
tapes were most often recorded at 3 ¾ ips, with a single microphone, but they
sound quite acceptable. Amazing--considering that what was being recorded
included a jazz drummer, more than one reed instrument, one or more trumpets—that
the balance is good on so many of them and the recordings are quite listenable.
As we spin these tapes, we are dubbing them to an Alesis Masterlink digital CD
recorder, and creating master CDs for our archives.
These archive recordings are available for sale from this site. As we
get orders for them, we will fill them by copying them as CD-Rs on our computer
and mailing them out. These CD-Rs will have handwritten or paper labels
(unless the demand is high enough to make disc label imprinting hardware
worthwhile). The cost per disc is $18 US + shipping charges, except where
otherwise indicated. We will be adding to this list periodically, so
please keep checking this site for further documention of our music.
- "Christmas
with Uncle Sonny" Dec.
25th, 1971 2
CD-R set Dr Wheelz'Archive #1 & 2 master
is a reel-to-reel recording made at 2 locations: Bert Wilson's home in
Berkeley, California and Sonny Simmons' family home across the bay in
San Francisco later that evening. Disc One begins as a duet with
drummer Smiley Winters and Bert Wilson on soprano
saxophone. Sonny Simmons with alto sax in hand and
percussionist James Zitro arrive shortly thereafter and an hour
of inspired spontaneous composition is miraculously recorded with an
excellent balance between the instruments. Some vocals, some
conversation. Disc Two reconvenes all but Smiley Winters at Simmons'
place and adds trumpet lady Barbara Donald's blazing
contribution and bassist John Newman for over an hour of inspired
holiday celebration. 2 CD set packaged in a Case Logic Prosleeve.
$25
- "Kozmic
Communication" sometime
early in 1970 DWA
#4 master
is a reel-to-reel recording made at Bert Wilson's home in Berkeley,
CA. Bert Wilson-tenor sax; Sonny Simmons-alto
sax; Barbra Donald-trumpet; Bobby Addison-guitar; John
Newman-bass; Bobby Natanson-drums. This session opens
with a free improvisation between Wilson, Simmons, Donald, Newman and
Natanson. Addison arrives with his guitar and they get down to
some Kozmic cookin' with all involved. After the departure of
Simmons & Donald, the remaining musicians play 2 compositions:
Wilson's "Dusk" and Monk's "Well You
Needn't".
- "The Mystic
Rites of Sound"
Recorded July 24, 1970
DWA #5 Recorded at
Bert Wilson's home. Recorded on the original reel-to-reel
at 7-1/2ips. Bert Wilson-tenor sax; Sonny Simmons-alto
sax; Bob Saunderson-flute; James Zitro-percussion; Kenneth
Jenkins-contrabass. Amazing music! free improvisations
with instantly-evolving structure. Zitro is a flexible,
extremely creative drummer, whose work drives this music--but all are
participating fully. Simmons introduces and titles the music on
the recording.
- "PaloColorado
Suite"
Recorded
sometime in the summer of 1972 DWA #7
Recorded in
PaloColorado Canyon, Big Sur, California. Original reel-to-reel
is a monaural recording at 3-3/4". A fantastic band
featuring Bert Wilson-tenor sax (baritone sax on one track!); Sonny
Simmons-alto sax; Barbara Donald-trumpet; Michael Cohen-organ;
Dennis Parker (at that time playing with the Don Ellis band
& Frank Zappa)-bass; James Zitro-percussion. Free
improvisations and compositional ideas fleshed out, with a decidedly
psychedelic flavor...In 1972, Zitro, Wilson and Parker had moved to
PaloColorado canyon to form "The Zytron Aquarian
Ensemble"(see below), and on this occasion, Sonny Simmons,
Barbara Donald and Micheal Cohen were visiting from San Francisco.
- "Concert at the Bach Dancing and
Dynamite Society" CD-R FMO 0011, 1972 ---The Zytron Aquarian Ensemble (also known as "Zytron") Back in the
"bad old days", when there were no gigs and no record dates
for jazz musicians--who had to make a hard decision: get hired
as parking attendants or short order cooks--or attempt to create
a music that would sell. Thus "fusion" was born. According to Bert
Wilson, the definition for fusion music is "rock & roll
played by jazz musicians". "Zytron" had some
world-music fused into it as well: the organist, David Kempton
had been studying Sarod with Ali Akbar Khan for the 5 years previous
to the formation of the band. Kempton contributed several
compositons to the band that were influenced by his studies.
"Zytron" was formed by James Zitro in the Berkeley/Oakland
area but soon moved to Big Sur to participate in the counterculture
that thrived there at the time. The Bach
Dancing & Dynamite Society is a large private house on
Half Moon Bay, halfway between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, that
presented musical events (and still does, to this day). Besides Kempton,
Zitro and Wilson, this concert recording also includes
the bass guitar playing of Dennis Parker. The band is
tight, funky and at times exotic. All the compositions (with the
exception of "Freedom Jazz Dance" which goes by almost
faster than you can hear it) are all originals. This early
example of fusion has more fire and creativity than what we have come
to expect from the genre.
- "Live &
Smokin' " ---Bert
Wilson and Rebirth,
CD-R FMO 007,
1989 Recorded at Seattle's Bumbershoot Arts Festival (Caffe Starbucks stage)
6 original Bert Wilson Compositons. Bert Wilson plays tenor,
soprano and alto saxophones, Craig Hoyer-piano; Bob Meyer-drums; Dan
Schulte-bass; Nancy Curtis-flute. Special bonus track: Denny
Goodhew plays Baritone saxophone on Bert's composition
"Forward Motion" recorded in 1990 at a Bert Wilson Nonet
concert (sponsored by Earshot Jazz at the Nippon Kan Theater in
Seattle). Denny plays a burning solo that Bert wants the
world to hear!
-
"Live
at Caffe Starbucks '87",
CD-R FMO 008, 1987
---"Bebop
Revisited" was formed by Bert Wilson after moving to
Olympia, Washington and discovering the wealth of jazz talent that
lived there--this band features tenor saxophonist Chuck Stentz,
whose "brush with fame" was that when Paul Gonsalves left
the band he was in when he was tapped by Duke Ellington, Stentz was
his replacement. His style is a fine blend of Wardell Grey, Zoot
Sims, Dexter Gordon and Stan Getz--with a tone as good as any of
them. This live concert features four Charlie Parker
compositions, a ballad that was associated with Parker ("Lover
Man") and "Tenor Madness". Craig Hoyer-piano; Chuck Metcalf-bass
and Bob Meyer-drums.