Jen Wilson 1944 – 2023

Jen Wilson, Jazz pianist, author, historian and archivist died on the evening of Monday 8th May 2023 at the age of 78.

Below Lynne Gornall and Roger Cannon of Brecon Jazz Club and Festival pay tribute.

JEN WILSON - JAZZ HERITAGE WALES

The Jazz, research and Welsh music history network & international community has been dealt a great loss with the recent passing of Jen Wilson of Jazz Heritage Wales. It was an organisation she founded (beginning as Women in Jazz in 1986) and pioneered through to its current established and highly respected status. It was just in November that JHW organised a brilliant ‘Documenting Jazz’ 2022 international conference in Swansea  (UWTSD) chaired by Paula Gardiner and Orphy Robinson.

As Brecon Jazz, we’d been involved in its early discussions, via Pedro Cravinho of DocJazz, and ran a panel session on Women in Jazz Lineups, Jazz Performance & Promotion - a topic close to Jen’s heart. It had a line-up of musicians and contributors from far and near for the debate. When we last spoke, Jen had asked us to look for photos in the Festival archive of Brecon’s Gena Davies, for something she was working on: her connections with Brecon Jazz Festival were strong & deep rooted.

Jen was an accomplished musician and jazz pianist in her own right and active over many years in supporting and highlighting the role of women in jazz, particularly in Wales. Saxophonist Deborah Glenister speaks for many when she references Wilson’s many music workshops and advocacy of female musicians and band line-ups, and indeed, Jen and a female sextet performed at the BJF opening in 2016 also bringing their stunning ‘Women in Jazz’ exhibition panels from the JHW archive.

Jen was also working on her book (Freedom Music, 2019), to highlight not just women’s role in Welsh Jazz, but cross-cultural influences too, particularly African American music in Wales. And her searching Ottilie Patterson interviews have been used in a recent TV documentary & film. We loved her work on the Tower Ballroom venue in Swansea (a book) in particular, and her bringing to life of the female music promoters & thriving big band events in the Welsh Valleys during WW2.

For all of this scholarship, Jen was awarded an honorary professorship from University of Wales Trinity St David, and in 2017, the St David’s Award for Culture, a recognition she especially valued in her own city and country. The unique multi-media JHW collection is based at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea*. Jen was a driving force in securing the base for the archive, but also part of a very able team at Jazz Heritage Wales - Gail, Deborah, Margot, Elissa and many others, including dedicated volunteers, supporters including family and husband Mike, UWTSD colleagues and students.

We will all need to carry on supporting and contributing to this work - jazz history, jazz heritage in Wales, diverse contributions to jazz. At Brecon Jazz, we were also actively discussing with Jen and the JHW team the Brecon Jazz documentation & heritage - now at 40 years - and these strong links and an actual archive material donation, in the autumn, will continue.

We hope everyone will take this as a moment to not just read the tribute to Jen but also have a look at (& maybe use) the fantastic work of JHW on their website: https://www.jazzheritage.wales/

Lynne Gornall & Roger Cannon (Brecon Jazz Club & Festival)

*Dylan Thomas Centre, Somerset Place, Swansea, SA1 1RR

Ian Mann adds;

Although I never got to know her well I do remember meeting Jen Wilson and other members of the Jazz Heritage Wales team on their occasional visits to Brecon. Her brief appearance at the 2016 Brecon Jazz Festival, as referenced above, also gets a short mention as part of my Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/friday-at-brecon-jazz-weekend-12-08-2016

A virtual tour of the  Jazz Heritage Wales exhibition at Swansea Museum in the company of Jen Wilson formed part of the all online Brecon Jazz Festival in 2020. My thoughts on this can be found as part of that year’s Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/friday-at-virtual-brecon-jazz-festival-07-08-2020

In March 2023 Deborah Checkland and Margot Morgan of Jazz Heritage Wales visited one of Brecon Jazz Club’s monthly events at The Muse Arts Centre. During the interval in a performance by pianist Rachel Starritt and her trio they delivered a short presentation outlining the work of JHW. I would surmise that at this time Jen Wilson wasn’t well enough attend. In any event my account of the evening, which references the presentation, can be found here.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/rachel-starritt-trio-brecon-jazz-club-the-muse-arts-centre-brecon-10-03-2023

It should not be forgotten that Jen Wilson was also an excellent musician and composer in her own right, primarily a pianist but also a saxophonist. In 2011 her album “Twelve Poems; The Dylan Thomas Suite” was favourably reviewed by guest contributor Charlotte Keeffe, then a student at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and now based in London and regarded as one of the UK’s leading trumpeters. Charlotte’s review can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/twelve-poems-the-dylan-thomas-suite

I have heard “Twelve Poems” myself and can confirm that it is a very good album indeed and I very much concur with Charlotte’s appraisal. One of the pieces from the Dylan Thomas Suite, “The Force That Through The Green Fuse” was played at her funeral, which took place at Swansea Crematorium on 1st June 2023.

As Lynne and Roger mentioned a more comprehensive tribute to Jen’s life and work can be found on the Jazz Heritage Wales website here;
https://www.jazzheritage.wales/tribute-to-jen/

Jen Wilson’s website, which contains more information about her work, can still be accessed here;
https://www.jenwilsonjazzpiano.com/

RIP Jen.

COMMENTS:

From Clive Downs;

I was sad to learn of the passing of Jen Wilson.

In 2015 I heard a track from her suite ‘Twelve Poems’ on the radio, and bought a copy of the CD.
It is a remarkable composition, full of unusual time signatures, quotes from Mozart and Bach, echoes of natural sounds, and memorable melodies. There is much humour, as well, in some of the instrumental interludes between lines of poetry. Jen’s liner notes describe how she drew on the rhythms of the poems in writing the suite.

The composition doesn’t seem to be well known. Even with a gap of fifty years between the two suites, Jen’s seems sadly rather overshadowed by the success of Stan Tracey’s 1965 Under Milk Wood.

Having difficulty in finding the CD after hearing the radio extract, I contacted Jen directly. She sent a note with the album, saying “I hope you enjoy this as much as we did making it”.

I hadn’t played ‘Twelve Poems’ for some time, but after seeing the obituary, I listened again, and was struck by its originality, and how ingeniously the poetry had been translated into jazz.

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