
He loved the boogie-woogie sounds the delivery guys would stick around to play after dropping off ice for the family's ice box, and was further piqued after a visit to the house by rising pianist Sonny Clark.īut music was second-string to his love for hitting people. As a teen, Wilson tinkered on the home piano. When Reuben was 5, Dust Bowl conditions forced the family westward to Pasadena, Calif., where his father Amos worked odd jobs and his mother Elizabeth was a domestic worker.

"And in the '90s, his music was revitalized when English DJs like Gilles Peterson started playing all these old funky tunes he had recorded decades earlier."īorn April 9, 1935, in the tiny town of Mounds, Okla., Reuben Lincoln Wilson was the second youngest of 13 siblings. "Reuben Wilson helped usher in what we now call Soul Jazz," says Pete Fallico, founder of the Jazz Organ Fellowship Hall of Fame, an organization dedicated to honoring the history of jazz organ, and into which Wilson was inducted in 2013. After battling dementia the last several years, and recently being diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, he died in Harlem. Wilson's death was confirmed by his son, Reuben Reuel Wilson. These landmark LPs provided his peers with "a groovy situation" (as one album was titled), and would inspire acid jazz DJs and hip-hop luminaries worldwide a generation later. The funk-ridden grooves of his music could feel larger than life, however, particularly those he created for Blue Note Records in the late 1960s and early '70s. When he perched his athletic 6-foot-5-inch inch frame behind the dual-manual keyboard, quick hands and size 15 feet sparring with the drawbars, pedals and electromagnetic tonewheels housed in a wooden box that could be mistaken for living room furniture - it didn't seem so big after all. But Reuben Wilson - who died on May 26 at the age of 88 - was one such organist. It will also include footage of the making of Carr’s reimagined tracks and “never-before seen archival footage of Usher from the album’s era,” according to the announcement.Reuben Wilson's Hammond B-3 grooves for Blue Note Records found a second life in samples, particular on Nas' "Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)."įew are the folks who could cast a literal shadow over the iconic Hammond B-3 organ, nicknamed "the Beast" by many of the jazz musicians who have helmed the hefty 425-pound instrument.

Directed by Dolapo Sangokoya, it will feature exclusive interviews with Usher, Carr and producer Jermaine Dupri. The mini-documentary, “Usher: 25 Years My Way” - about the making of “My Way” - will be released exclusively to Usher’s YouTube channel.

The reimagined tracks, on which Carr and Usher collaborated last summer, inspired the Grammy Award winner’s performance on NPR’s “Tiny Desk.” It was a viral event, garnering more than 11 million views to date. The deluxe edition comprises the original 10-track album, an updated reshoot of the original cover, a lyric and photo booklet, a mini-documentary, drummer/producer Ryan James Carr reimagined versions of three hits singles, as well as instrumental versions of Carr’s reimagined songs. Usher to release 25th anniversary deluxe edition of “My Way.” (Photo by Bellamy Brewster for Sony Music Entertainment)
