The confluence of Simon and Garfunkel galavanting anew throughout the land and the SACD release of classic Dylan albums led me to think about one of the most unusual and amazing figures in recent recording history.
Do you know this man? He was president of the Young Republican Club and graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1954. He founded the jazz label Transition the following year, and began producing jazz radio programs in 1958. He was jazz A&R director for Savoy Records and executive assistant to the director of the New York State Commission for Human Rights at the same time. He became a producer for Columbia and then MGM in the '60s where he worked with Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Animals. He discovered, signed and produced the Mothers of Invention, Blues Project, Hugh Masekela, and the Velvet Underground. He was an African American.
Thomas Blanchard Wilson, Jr., Tom Wilson, is one of the forgotten greats of the music business. Wilson was born March 25, 1931, and grew up in Waco, Texas where he attended Moore High School. Wilson was invited to Harvard where he became involved with the Harvard New Jazz Society and radio station WHRB: the latter to which he later credited all of his success in the music business.
Following his work with Savoy and brief stints with United Artists and Audio Fidelity, Wilson was hired as staff producer at Columbia in '63. Wilson's most significant contributions to Columbia were his three-and-one-half albums with Bob Dylan. Wilson replaced the credited producer, John Hammond, for the final Freewheelin' session in April, 1963, in response to Albert Grossman's (Dylan's new manager) attempt to get Dylan out of his Columbia contract on a technicality.
The young protest singer could hardly reject the young black man brought in to produce him. Four songs on the album, "Girl From the North Country" (one of Dylan's best love songs), "Masters of War" (an unsparing antiwar song), "Talkin' World War lll Blues" and "Bob Dylan's Dream" were recorded by Wilson and the solo Dylan.
Dylan's next album was The Times They Are a-Changin', another classic recorded solo. Wilson's main input was to roll the tape and nod sagely, but the proof is in the pudding - Wilson pointed Dylan in the direction he needed to be pointed in and got out of the way.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Rodney Welch
Eric -- What a fantastic story! Best thing I've read all day. I've always seen Wilson's name on all those records you mentioned, but this is the first time I've ever learned anything about him. This is definitely a story you should develop at length and sell. Is that Wilson giggling wildly at the beginning of "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream," after they blow the first take? I bet it is. I always loved that moment on the record -- so perfectly spontaneous.
2 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Rodney, I really appreciate it, especially coming from you. I have always thought the Wilson story would make a great book, or at least a long article - it touches on so many important themes, players, and music. I'm very pleased to hear you say that too.
3 - Marty Thau
Fine story Eric. I knew him and he was eveything you said he was -- particularly charismatic and brilliant. You definitely should do a Wilson book.
4 - Eric Olsen
thanks Marty, that's very encouraging. I'll have to talk to you about him!
5 - Hazy Dave
Thanks for the article, man. Great to finally know something about the guy behind the name on the back of all those great albums.
6 - Phil Milstein
Great piece on Wilson, a figure I've long felt to have been severely overlooked and underestimated by the lords of Rock History. I agree that the article should be expanded, although would caution Eric to check some of his music history facts before he does (e.g., Louis Firbank; contemporaneity of VU's recordings vis-a-vis Mothers').
7 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Phil, every source I have seen says Lou Reed was born Louis Firbank so I;m pretty sure about that, and the Velvets recorded from '66-'70 and the Mothers released their first in '66 and recorded steadily from there, so they were definitely contemporaneous.
8 - Joe Harvard
Very cool article, Eric. One or two things: in my recent [and first] book, "The Velvet Underground and Nico" [Continuum, 2004], I found and interviewed Norman Dolph, who co-produced [with Warhol] the V.U.'s New York sessions for that LP-- they finished it, but were unable to sell it via Dolph's Columbia connections. Then they went with Tom Wilson, having been impressed earlier by his offer of true creative freedom once he made his move to MGM/Verve, and re-did the four songs you mention in LA.
One thing to recall is that they also did a 5th number with Wilson, back in NY, when he decided they needed a single: "Sunday Morning", which was supposed to be sung by Nico [by Wilson's request - he felt her voice was more saleable], but which Reed sings on the record, as he insisted on doing it himself once they got into the studio to do it.
Second, the "shoe salesman" was none other than Norman Dolph, who was at that time a Columbia Sales exec, the other hands-on producer beside Wilson, and a very cool guy who has gotten short shrift over the years. Dolph was brought in by Warhol and it was Norman who set up the sessions at Scepter Studios and found John Licata, the engineer in NY. He was never, ever a shoe salesman. But he was the cat who put up half the money to do the NY stuff, Warhol and mgr. Paul Morrissey put up the rest - around $700. It seems that Cale was either being purposefully sardonic in his description of Dolph, or perhaps it was just a product of the hard drinking he used to do, and may have done at the time of that statement [and doesn't do any more]. All this and more [plus some old, contradictory issues] is cleared up in my book, on Continuum Publishing's 33-1/3 Series, available at amazon.com, borders, fine music and book stores, thru me [if you want it signed] or thru the publisher.
One last thing: during my phone interview, Dolph -- obviously a very together individual -- was self-effacing and objective. Having been even less appreciated and less remembered than Tom Wilson for his role in this seminal LP [to my knowledge mine is the first lengthy interview with Dolph to ever result in a significant portion reaching the printed page], Norman joked at one point :" By the way, Joe, if you run into Cale, tell him to give you his foot size, and I'll send him a fucking pair of shoes". There's a sport for you!
9 - Rick
Eric, great article. I worked for Tom's recording studio in 1975. He was a beautiful man with great vision. Yes, that is him laughing at the beginning of Bob Dylan's 115th Dream. He told me Bob liked recording with Tom because he would come in run the songs down on acoustic guitar and leave. Tom would overdub the band later. At a Christmas party at his home we talked about music and he asked me if I was into jazz. I said no (it would be years before I discovered Coltrane), and he reluctantly changed the subject. Now I wish I had found it earlier. His insights into the music I now love would have been invaluable. My clearest memory of Tom is leaping down the stairs of the studio from his office to the front door to check out a fine chick he spied walking down the street. He is missed often.
10 - Eric Olsen
thanks so much Rick, great to hear from you, it is hard to find people who actually knew Tom these days
11 - B
Has anyone tried to interview Wilson's family?
12 - Tamara
Wilson also produced Harumi, Ill Wind,
The Last Ritual and Fraternity Of Man.
Why isn't he in the Rock n' Roll H.O.F.?
13 - Eric Olsen
I completely agree with you Tamara - perhaps his early death has made him out of sight out of mind. He was involved with a great deal of jazz as well, a fascinating figure.
14 - Joe Harvard
Whoa... dropped back by and suddenly there's all sorts of action here ... excuse my earlier verbosity! Looks like there's a movement afoot for you to do a Wilson book ... I was astonished the more i learned about the man, and I truly envy those who knew him. Yeah, why ISN'T he in the R&R Hall of Fame? I add my vote to Marty Thau's: time is ripe for a full-on Wilson bio ... you should go for it! [then again, why isn't there a marty thau bio? Red Star records changed my world!]
15 - Nathan Stanton
Great article, I just want to say that this article should really be a springboard for a book. Tom Wilson's achievements are truly massive, and with the exception of a NY times article in the early 70's and various small paragraphs in books (33 and a 1/3 being one of them) Wilson is absent from publication, and really rock history. I recently wrote a paper about Wilson for a course on the history of producers, but the amount of research and digging that had to be done to even come up with a small portion of useable information was way beyond what i had imagined looking at the albums he had produced. If i have one critique of the article is the lack of sonic critique, he was a masterful pioneer of stereo techniques like on white light/white heat the song Lady Godiva, John cale sings most of the song before Reed bumbles in a non tonal vocal and the bounce back and forth to my knowledge nothing like this had been tried before. For someone who has recieved huge praise in the early career of Jon Landau (when writing for the now defunct music magazine crawdaddy), i was suprised no more was written about Wilson.
16 - Charlie Gillett
I'm planning a series of 10 30-minute radio programmes about record producers for BBC Radio 2 called Invisible Visionaries. One of them will celebrate Tom Wilson. Like the rest of you here, I've always felt him to be a great but overlooked figure, and did my best to honour him in my book, The Sound of the City (Da Capo, 1995). But I didn't know very much about him.
I found this site in the course of searching for more information and insights, and send a thousand thanks to Eric for the original piece and everyone else for filling in some of the blanks.
Two questions, though - Eric makes a reference at the beginning of his piece to Tom's work at the start of his career with Savoy Records, and towards the end of it with another Eric, the former former Animal from Newcastle. Can anyone add more, such as which artists did Tom work with at Savoy, and is there anything to say about his work with Eric Burdon?
17 - Doug Rathbun
Good article.
My father and Tom were in the same class at Harvard B school.
Tom and Beverly were my "foster parents" when they, well, Beverly, were living on Mt. Pleasant Street in Cambridge in the mid-sixties.
It's a real long story, but it started when Beverly came down to Christiansted, St. Croix. Beverly dragged me to the local music store, grabbed a copy of the 45 'Judy in Disguise', the LP's 'Animalism' & 'Satanic Majesty's Request', and said "You're coming with me."
I was twelve.
Hey T! Hey Darien! Where are you?
18 - Paul Payson
I liked the article! I knew Beverly in Cambridge in the late 60s and would love to know where T and Darien are.
19 - Eric Olsen
sorry I am so late to respond! Charlie, an honor to hear from you - loved The Sound of the City!
For his stint with Savoy I have Bill Barron, Booker Ervin, Barbara Long, Perry Robinson, Johnny Rae, Sun Ra.
He did many of the Animals absolute classics: The Animalization , Winds of Change, Eric Is Here, and The Twain Shall Meet albums.
Thanks for checking in Doug and Paul, please let me know if you find anyone or anymore info!
20 - Jim Bourget
Hey Eric,
Can't believe it's taken me all this time to do a search for Tom....His son is my best friend, has been since 1970.
I knew Tom very well...one of the most amazing and dynamic people I've ever met.
If you'd like to get in touch with me so you can reach his son (also dynamic and interesting) send me an e mail and I'll tell you how to reach him. Especially if you want to do a book or more history on him.
Take Care,
Jim
21 - twilson
Hey Folks, This is Tom's son, T.Wilson. I just had this article forwarded to me by a friend and would love get in touch with anyone interested hearing from me or my sister Darien.
Especially Doug Rathbun and Paul Payson...
I'm alive and well and hiding in the TV Biz in Northern California. My sister Darien is living down in Southern California.
Hope all is well with everyone, and thanks so much for all the kind words about my dad. They truly are heart-warming, and I must confess a bit overwhelming...
Take care, T.
22 - PHYLLIS SMITH
Hi Eric, I was thrilled to receive this article..I was Tom's assistant at Columbia and at MGM from 1964 thru 1968.
I have the fondest memories of Tom, he had the best laugh, he was so smart and had a great sense of humor and I just thought he was wonderful. I was at so many of the recording sessions during those years..it was so exciting for a young woman from Brooklyn. I have never forgotten him and think of him often. I could go on and on...but I'll give someone else a chance...I'm in touch with his son and am planning to meet him next week as a matter of fact.
23 - Jim Bourget
Hey Eric,
There is no doubt that Tom Wilson should be in the R & R Hall of Fame...it's really ludicrous. Looks like you're getting a ground well of support. As people find out and spread the word I'm sure you can help make it happen.
I know his son and daughter will have some memorabilia and I would certainly hope that Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel and others would like to get involved.
Let's make it happen.
Jim
24 - Eric Olsen
so very exciting to hear from Tom, Jim and Phyllis. I am postiive Charlie (comment 16) would be thrilled to hear from you guys for his BBC radio bio.
I have zero doubt that Tom should be in the Rock Hall, and his fascinating story should be much better known. Certainly I think a book makes sense, or perhaps better still a documentary. How much video footage is available? That would make a huge difference. YOu certainly have plenty of big names involved in the story!
25 - Eddie Rabin
An old bandmate of mine ( "The Novae Police" ) was in "The Last Ritual". He was their guitarist. His name is Joe Gabriel, but he had some a/k/a 's ,like P.McQuade. Anyway, if anyone can point me in the direction of finding him again, that would be great !