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Wilson is a career big band musician and educator. He spent 10 plus years with Count Basie and played with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band and The New Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, among others. Wilson attended the Berklee College of Music, graduating in 1974 with a BM in music education. He was a member of Lionel Hampton's orchestra from 1973-5; he was the band's music director for 18 months. Wilson also worked freelance with such bandleaders as Clark Terry and Stan Kenton before landing his gig with Basie in 1977. Wilson played on several Basie albums, and led the band (after Basie's death) as it backed Manhattan Transfer on their 1985 album Vocalese. Wilson did the arranging on the album, for which he received a Grammy nomination. br /br /br /br /In the '90s Wilson joined trumpeter Jon Faddis's Carnegie Hall Jazz Band in New York; he conducted the band in a concert tribute to Basie in 1994. That year he joined the faculty of Kansas State University as Director of Jazz Studies. In 1998 he was named Assistant Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at the school. Wilson was named Artist in Residence for the San Jose Jazz Society in 2001; his duties include directing and performing with the San Jose Jazz Orchestra. By 2002 he had joined the jazz faculty at the University of Michigan. At this writing he is also the Music Production Manager for the Basie orchestra, charged with the development of "The Basie Way," the band's music education program. ~ Chris Kelsey, All Music Guide