Dan Wilson grew up in Akron and spent most of his time within the church community. This is where his musical journey began. His playing can be traced back to his major guitar influences, including Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. However, his musical identity was shaped by everything, from gospel and blues, traditional jazz, hip hop and horn players such as Joe Henderson and Sonny Rollins. Wilson graduated from Hiram College and recorded his first album with Joe McBride’s Tip-City. Wilson has shared the stage with many jazz legends, including Eric Marienthal and Russell Malone, Les McCann (recorded by Rene Marie), Jeff Hamilton, David Sanborn, Rene Marie, Jeff Hamilton and Dave Stryker. Through private lessons, he also teaches jazz guitar as well as music theory. Wilson’s journey took him to explore the foundations of jazz/organ tradition. He was then invited to perform with Joey DeFrancesco and his trio quartet. Wilson received a GRAMMY(r), Award nomination for DeFrancesco’s Project Freedom album (Mack Avenue Records 2017, Wilson). The collaboration allowed Wilson to add his own voice to the musical prowess of DeFrancesco and earned him respect throughout his career. Wilson had been playing for DeFrancesco for several years when he met Christian McBride, a bassist, composer and arranger. Wilson continued to tour with McBride’s Tip City trio, eventually leading McBride as producer of “Vessels of Wood and Earth”. McBride also released the album through Mack Avenue Music Group on his new imprint Brother Mister Productions. from www.danwilsonguitar.com
