Teddy Wilson

Teddy Wilson, born Theodore Shaw Wilson on November 24, 1912 in Austin, Texas, was an American jazz pianist whose elegant touch and virtuosic technique helped define the swing era. From a very early age he received formal music instruction, beginning piano lessons at six before expanding to violin, oboe and clarinet while attending the Tuskegee Institute. He launched his professional career in 1929 with Speed Webb’s band and quickly rose to prominence when he succeeded Art Tatum in Milton Senior’s ensemble in 1930. By the early 1930s Wilson was already recording with Louis Armstrong and had joined Benny Carter’s Chocolate Dandies, laying the groundwork for his most celebrated partnership with Benny Goodman. In 1935, after a house‑party jam that caught John Hammond’s ear, Wilson became a founding member of the Benny Goodman Trio alongside Gene Krupa, marking one of the first high‑profile integrations of black musicians into a white‑dominated band. His delicate, inside harmonic sense, inherited from Earl Hines and Art Tatum, made him a favorite accompanist for vocal legends such as Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and Helen Ward, producing dozens of hit recordings for Brunswick and Columbia. Beyond his sideman work, Wilson led his own fifteen‑piece big band, a Café Society sextet, and later taught piano at the Juilliard School from 1945 to 1952. He also appeared on screen in Hollywood Hotel (1937) and The Benny Goodman Story (1955) and served as music director for the Dick Cavett Show. Awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee in 1979, Wilson continued performing into the 1980s with a trio that featured his sons Theodore and Steven. He died of stomach cancer on July 31, 1986 in New Britain, Connecticut, leaving a legacy that influenced later pianists such as Mary Lou Williams and Billy Kyle.