Wilder was awarded the Temple University Jazz Master's Hall of Fame Award in 2006. The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award for 2008.
Wilder was born into a musical family led by his father Curtis, a bassist and bandleader in Philadelphia. Wilder's first performances took place on the radio program, "Parisian Tailor's Colored Kiddies of the Air." He and the other young musicians were backed up by such illustrious bands as Duke Ellington's and Louis Armstrong's that were also then playing at the Lincoln Theater. Wilder studied at the Mastbaum School of Music in Philadelphia, but turned to jazz when he felt that there was little future for an African American classical musician. At age 19, Wilder joined his first touring big band, Les Hite's band.
Wilder was one of the first thousand African Americans to serve in the Marines during World War II. He worked first in Special Weapons and eventually became Assistant Bandmaster at the headquarters' band. Following the war during the 1940's and early 1950's, he played in the orchestras of Jimmie Lunceford, Herbie Fields, Sam Donahue, Lucky Millinder, Noble Sissle, Dizzy Gillespie, and finally with the Count Basie Orchestra. From 1957 to 1974, Wilder did studio work for ABC-TV, New York, and in the pit orchestras for Broadway musicals, while building his reputation as a soloist with his albums for Savoy (1956) and Columbia (1959). His Jazz from Peter Gunn (1959), features ten songs from Henry Mancini ("Peter Gunn") television score in melodic and swinging fashion with a quartet. He was also a regular sideman with such musicians as NEA Jazz Masters Hank Jones, Gil Evans, and Benny Goodman. He became a favorite with vocalists and played for Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Johnny Mathis, Harry Belafonte, Eileen Farrell, Tony Bennett, and many others. Wilder earned a bachelor of music degree in 1953, studying classical trumpet at the Manhattan School of Music with Joseph Alessi, where he was also principal trumpet with the school's symphony orchestra under conductor Jonel Perlea. In the 1960s, he performed on several occasions with the New York Philharmonic under Andre Kostelanetz and Pierre Boulez and played lead for the Symphony Of The New World from 1965 to 1971.
He appeared on The Cosby Show episode "Play It Again, Russell" (1986), and played the trumpet in the Malcolm X Orchestra in Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" (1992). Since 1991 he returned as a leader and recorded three albums for Evening Star. He died on May 9, 2014 in New York City, of congestive heart failure.
Discography
As leader
1956 Wilder N' Wilder Jazz Savoy
1956 Softly With Feeling Jazz Savoy
1959 The Pretty Sound of Joe Wilder Jazz Columbia
1959 Jazz from "Peter Gunn" Jazz Columbia
1991 Alone With Just My Dreams Jazz Evening Star
1993 No Greater Love Jazz Evening Star
2003 Among Friends Jazz Evening Star
As sideman
With Trigger Alpert
Trigger Happy! (Riverside, 1956)
With Gil Evans
Into the Hot (Impulse!, 1961)
With Dizzy Gillespie
Gillespiana (Verve, 1960)
With Tadd Dameron
The Magic Touch (1962)
With Etta Jones
From the Heart (Prestige, 1962)
With Yusef Lateef
10 Years Hence (Atlantic, 1974)
The Doctor is In... and Out (Atlantic, 1976)
With Mundell Lowe
New Music of Alec Wilder (Riverside, 1956)
With Oliver Nelson
The Spirit of '67 with Pee Wee Russell (Impulse!, 1967)
With Houston Person
Broken Windows, Empty Hallways (Prestige, 1972)
With Shirley Scott
Great Scott!! (Impulse!, 1964)
With Sonny Stitt
What's New!!! (Roulette, 1966)
With others
Joe Newman: Hangin´ Out (Concord, 1984)
Benny Carter: A Gentleman and His Music (Concord, 1985)
Ruby Braff: Being With You (Arbirs, 1996)
Charlie Byrd: For Louis' (Concord, 1996)
Jay Jay Johnson: The Brass Orchestra (Verve, 1996)
The Heath Brothers: Jazz Family (Concord, 1998)
Prelude to a Kiss
Joe Wilder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A song in blue
Like a flower crying
For the dew
That was my heart serenading you
My prelude to a kiss
If you hear a song that grows
That was my heart trying to compose
A prelude to a kiss
Though it's just a simple melody
With nothing fancy
Nothing much
You could turn it to a symphony
A Shubert tune with a Gershwin touch
Oh how my love song gently cries
For the tenderness within your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
A prelude to a kiss
Though it's just a simple melody
With nothing fancy
Nothing much
You could turn it to a symphony
A Shubert tune with a Gershwin touch
Oh how my love song so gently cries
For the tenderness within your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
A prelude to a kiss
The song "Prelude to a Kiss" by Joe Wilder is a romantic ballad that expresses the deep feelings of love and devotion of the singer towards his beloved. In the song, the singer tells us that if we hear a song in blue, like a flower crying for the dew, it's his heart serenading the listener. He is conveying the message that his heart is filled with love and longing for his beloved, and this is his way of expressing it. The song's melody is simple, yet it has a profound effect on the listener, and the singer believes that one can turn it into a symphony with just a little imagination.
The singer goes on to say that his heart is trying to compose a prelude to a kiss, a song that grows from his tender sentimental woes. This shows that the singer is so deeply in love with his beloved that he wants to express his love and emotions in a unique way. The song's lyrics suggest that the singer's love song gently cries for the tenderness within his beloved's eyes, and his love is a prelude that never dies. The prelude is the beginning of something, and the singer believes that his love is just the start of a beautiful journey with his beloved. The song's soft, gentle melody conveys the depth of emotion and true meaning of love and devotion.
Line by Line Meaning
If you hear
If you happen to listen
A song in blue
A love song that may sound melancholy
Like a flower crying
Like a delicate flower shedding tears
For the dew
For the refreshing droplets
That was my heart serenading you
That was my heart singing your praises
My prelude to a kiss
My expression of love before we kiss
If you hear a song that grows
If you come across a song that develops
From my tender sentimental woes
From my gentle, emotional troubles
That was my heart trying to compose
That was my heart attempting to create
A prelude to a kiss
A preparation for our upcoming kiss
Though it's just a simple melody
Even though it's a basic tune
With nothing fancy
Without any extravagance
Nothing much
Nothing in particular
You could turn it to a symphony
It has great potential to become a grand musical piece
A Shubert tune with a Gershwin touch
A composition with a blend of Shubert's and Gershwin's styles
Oh how my love song gently cries
My song of love softly weeps
For the tenderness within your eyes
For the affection and warmth reflected in your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
My love is an everlasting beginning
A prelude to a kiss
A lead-up to our affectionate kiss
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Irving Gordon
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind