Robert Sage Wilber, March 15, 1928 – August 4, 2019, was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist. While his repertoire covered a broad range of jazz styles, Wilber was an avid advocate for classic jazz and worked tirelessly to present jazz pieces in a modern way throughout his career. In the 1950s and 60s, he played with many jazz legends such as Bobby Hackett and Sidney Bechet. He was an original member in the 1960s of the World’s Greatest Jazz Band and, in the 1970s, of Soprano Summit. This band gained great attention. He founded the Bechet Legacy Band in the late 1970s. Wilber was involved in jazz education and served as the director of Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble. He also wrote for films like The Cotton Club. He wrote Music Was Not Enough about his childhood and meeting Sidney Bechet in 1946. It also describes his struggles as an artist in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1960s. From Wikipedia, he died in 2019 at the age of 91.
