Jazz Great Gerald Wilson tips his hat to Cass Tech

I just listened to an interview with jazz legend Gerald Wilson on NRP Saturday Edition. [Source - audio will be available in a couple of hours].

In it the now-93-year-old-musician describes how, after visiting the 1937 Chicago Worlds Fair, he begged his parents to let him go north for school and how he ended up in Detroit where he attended Cass Tech which he praised as, along with Julliard in Manhattan, being the best school for music. He graduated from Cass and, like many other alumni, when on to fame and greatness.

The host of the show, Scott Simon, who is an insufferable Chicago-phile, cut him off at that point but not before he got in that unscripted plug.

Just another faded memory as the the famed school falls to the wrecking ball.

I listened to an interview with him several years ago, perhaps with Ed Love, and he 'would not stop' in his high praise for Cass Tech. He stated that he got a job for the Los Angeles Symphony straight out of Cass's Music Program. The program was so rigorous and technical that Cass music graduates in the 30's could score their own symphonies. High praise, indeed.

Well, that's not FULLY accurate, Gerald worked in Cecil Lee's ork and then the mid-Mich band of Chic Carter before hittin' the big time by joining the fabulous Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. He didn't relocate to LA until he was with Lunceford. Regardless, Cass had a world-class music dept and Gerald always remembers the fine training he received. He's a real gent.
Another piece of useless information, Gerald plays trumpet in the great nightclub scene in "Out Of The Past."

How does the CT music department stack up today?

Thanx for the clarification. I heard the interview several years ago, so my young, albeit jumbled mind, didn't record the interview verbatim, he was adamant in his praise for CT.

Hamtragedy, Renaissance '85.

Sadly, the entire DPS music department is being, or was, dismantled. I was told that by several older musicians who taught in DPS or recently retired. The other component of learning is onthejob training, and few are the outlets for younger musicians to hone their skills and learn the art of storytelling.