Remembering BAG and drummer Philip Wilson

Although not as well known as many members of the 1960s Free Jazz explosion, drummer Philip Wilson (1941-1992) was an important link among Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (ACCM), St. Louis’ Black Artists Group (BAG) and even Los Angeles’ Rock music scene. Pop-funk saxophonist David Sanborn – of all people – tells Do the Math’s Ethan Iverson how his friendship with the gregarious Wilson led to him becoming a professional saxophonist. Growing up in St. Louis, tyro Sanborn, through Wilson, was introduced to, and later worked with, inventive Jazz visionaries like saxophonists Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill and trumpeter Lester Bowie, who later helped organize the World Saxophone Quartet and the Art Ensemble of Chicago  respectively. Besides playing early gigs with these avant-garde pioneers, it was Sanborn’s friendship with Wilson, who was working with the Paul, Butterfield Blues Band at the time, that got the saxophonist a job with that group and led to his first recording session in L.A..