Jason Wilson (born May 31, 1970) is a Canadian historian and reggae musician from

North York North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...

, Ontario, Canada. He is the protégé of Studio One keyboardist

Jackie Mittoo Donat Roy Mittoo (3 March 1948 – 16 December 1990), better known as Jackie Mittoo, was a Jamaican-Canadian keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. He was a member of The Skatalites and musical director of the Studio One record label. ...

and the cousin of

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy ...

's Michael Virtue. Though they never met, Scottish-born American songwriter

Johnny Cymbal Johnny Cymbal (born John Hendry Blair; February 3, 1945 – March 16, 1993) was an American songwriter, singer and record producer who had numerous hit records, including his signature song, "Mr. Bass Man". Overview During a 33-year career, Cym ...

is Wilson's first cousin, once removed. Known for incorporating

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and Scottish influences atop a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

foundation, Wilson is a multi-instrumentalist, though is perhaps best known for his piano skills. The singer-songwriter has also performed and recorded with

Sly & Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separat ...

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...

Ernest Ranglin Ernest Ranglin (born 19 June 1932) is a Jamaican guitarist and composer who established his career while working as a session guitarist and music director for various Jamaican record labels, including Studio One and Island Records. Ranglin pl ...

Pee Wee Ellis Alfred James Rogers (April 21, 1941 – September 23, 2021), known as Pee Wee Ellis due to his diminutive stature, was an American saxophonist, composer, and arranger. With a background in jazz, he was a member of James Brown's band in the 19 ...

Dave Swarbrick David Cyril Eric Swarbrick (5 April 1941 – 3 June 2016) was an English traditional folk musician and songwriter and one of the greatest fiddlers in the world. He was one of the most highly regarded musicians produced by the second Bri ...

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...

The Mighty Sparrow Slinger Francisco ORTT CM OBE (born 9 July 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Trinidadian calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. Known as the "Calypso King of the World", he is one of the best-known and most successful calyps ...

Percy Sledge Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 19 ...

Brinsley Forde Brinsley Forde MBE (born 16 October 1953) is a British singer and actor of Guyanese parentage who is best known as the founder member of the reggae band Aswad and as a child actor in the children's television series ''Here Come the Double ...

(

Aswad Aswad are a British reggae group, noted for adding strong R&B and soul influences to the reggae sound. They have been performing since the mid-1970s, having released a total of 21 albums. Their UK hit singles include the number one "Don't Tu ...

Dick Gaughan Richard Peter Gaughan (born 17 May 1948) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs. He is regarded as one of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters. Early years Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Ro ...

David Francey David Francey (born 1954) is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. He is the recipient of four Juno Awards and three Canadian Folk Music Awards. Early life Francey was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. He immigrated to Canada with his family at age 12. ...

, Brownman Ali.

Biography

Wilson was born in North York, Ontario, Canada to Scottish immigrants and performed his first night club show when he was only 14 years old with Canadian reggae pioneers

Messenjah Messenjah is a Canadian-based reggae group that flourished to become one of the most successful and popular reggae groups in the history of Canadian music. History Messenjah was formed in 1980 in Kitchener, Ontario and released their first albu ...

. He later led the band Tabarruk, whose debut self-titled album included a duet with Wilson and

. With Tabarruk, Wilson performed over 2,000 shows around the world, more than any other Canadian reggae act.

Amanda Marshall Amanda Meta Marshall (born August 29, 1972) is a Canadian Juno award winning pop-rock singer and songwriter. She has released four studio albums; the first was certified diamond in Canada, with the second and third certified 3× platinum and p ...

was once a member of the band. Following their debut, the act's name was changed to Jason Wilson & Tabarruk who released ''Dark Corners'' in 1998 (which included the song "Icarus' Lament"), followed by the Juno-nominated ''Jonah'' (2000) and then the critically acclaimed ''Dread & Blue'' (2004) which spawned Wilson's anthem "Keele Street" which has been featured several times on Canadian radio, film and television, including on the Canadian television production ''

Da Kink in My Hair ''Da Kink in My Hair'' is a play by Trey Anthony, which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2001. The play's central character is Novelette, the Caribbean Canadian owner of Letty's, a Toronto hair salon. Novelette is forced to confront her ...

''. Following this album, Wilson embarked on a solo career releasing the Juno-nominated and Canadian Reggae Music Award-winning ''The Peacemaker's Chauffeur'' in 2008. The album incorporates Wilson's historical take on elements of war and peace. Wilson was awarded the Karl Mullings Memorial Award for commitment to reggae in Canada in 2007. Wilson's life story and music have been featured many times on radio and television, including a mini-doc entitled ''The Grateful Dread'' on

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

's '' The National'' with Peter Mansbridge as well as a feature documentary on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Radio. Wilson is also one half of the successful Marley/Dylan tribute act The Two Bobs, alongside Fergus Hambleton, the lead singer of the two-time Juno-Award-winning reggae act The Sattalites. Wilson is also one-half of the reggae-folk combo Wilson & Swarbrick and is the leader of ''Soldiers of Song'', a tribute to The Dumbells, Canada's famous concert party of World War I. ''Soldiers of Song'' was also featured on '' The National'' in 2013. An award-winning author, Wilson co-wrote ''Lord Stanley: The Man Behind the Cup'' with Kevin Shea in 2006 that won the New York-based Heritage Award for Outstanding Sports Research and Writing. Winner of a

SSHRC The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; , CRSH), often colloquially pronounced 'shirk' (), is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humani ...

scholarship, Wilson received his PhD in Canadian History at the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

in 2013. Wilson has also been published several times on a wide variety of historical topics (see Books and articles). In 2009, Wilson was nominated by the Guelph Mercury for their "Top 40 Under 40" for his achievements in music and in academics. In the summer of 2009, Wilson served as the lone professional musician on the advisory committee alongside Senator

Pamela Wallin Pamela Wallin (born April 10, 1953) is a Canadian politician, former television journalist, and diplomat who served as a senator. She was appointed to the senate on January 2, 2009, where she initially sat as a Conservative. Early life and c ...

and others for the "Cantos at the King Eddy" project in Calgary that will soon serve as the nation's music museum. In 2014, Wilson released a full-length album with English fiddler and former

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

member

entitled The ''Lion Rampant''. The critically acclaimed album included special guests

Martin Carthy Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later ar ...

Peggy Seeger Margaret "Peggy" Seeger (born June 17, 1935) is an American Folk music, folk singer and songwriter. She has lived in Britain for more than 60 years and was married to the singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl until his death in 1989. She is a member ...

and John Kirkpatrick. British folk music critic Ken Hunt called the album: "Head and shoulders, the most eclectic, catholic and coherent musical banquet of 2014 thus far." In 2016, Jason Wilson and the Perennials released the first album of trilogy entitled ''Perennials''. Wilson wrote the album in New York City while his wife was working at the UN. The sextet, which includes trumpet, sax, bass, guitar, cajon and Wilson on piano and vocals, is playing several dates across Canada in support of the release.

Style

The improvisation element to Wilson's style is not typical in reggae, but rather borrows heavily from the jazz tradition. Wilson has covered the music of many divergent artists both live and in the studio, a fact that speaks to the broad spectrum of his tastes. These artists include

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

and

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

. The music of his Scottish heritage also has, at times, been incorporated into Wilson's music.K. Shea, "Big Shinny Tunes", ''Legends Magazine'', (Toronto: Hockey Hall of Fame, Fall 2003), pp.74, 76–78. Still, reggae is the key ingredient in Wilson's art and the keyboard stylings of his mentor

can be heard throughout Wilson's work. The British school of reggae has had perhaps the most profound influence on Wilson's writing. In particular, Wilson has admittedly studied the sound of the bands

Steel Pulse Steel Pulse are a roots reggae band from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, and were composed of David Hinds (lead vocals, guitar), Basil Gabbidon (lead guitar, vocals), and Ro ...

, Matumbi and

. Wilson's cousin Michael Virtue was the keyboardist for UB40 for twenty-eight years and appears on Wilson's ''Jonah'' album.

Discography

* Jason Wilson, ''Perennials'' (Wheel Records, 2016) * Wilson and Swarbrick, ''Lion Rampant'' (Shirty/Wheel Records, 2013) * Jason Wilson, ''The Peacemaker's Chauffeur'' (WR007B, 2008) Juno-Award Nominee/Canadian Reggae Music Award Winner * Jason Wilson & Tabarruk, ''Dread & Blue: A Canadiana Suite'' (WR006B, 2004) * Jason Wilson & Tabarruk, ''Jonah'' (WR005B, 2000) Juno-Award Nominee * Jason Wilson & Tabarruk, ''Dark Corners'' (WR003A, 1998) * Tabarruk, ''Tabarruk'' (WD001, 1994)

Books and articles

* Jason Wilson, ''Soldiers of Song: The Dumbells and Other Canadian Concert Parties of the First World War''. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2012. * J.J. Wilson and K. Shea, ''Lord Stanley: The Man Behind the Cup''. Toronto: Fenn Publishing, 2006. * J. Jason Wilson, ''Squirrel Gangs, Streetlights & Bucket Trucks: The History of Waterloo North Hydro''. Waterloo: Waterloo North Hydro, 2005. * J. Jason Wilson, "Skating to Armageddon: Of Canada, Hockey and the First World War", ''The International Journal of the History of Sport'', 22, 3. Oxford: Routledge, May 2005. * J. Jason Wilson, "27 Remarkable Days: The 1972 Summit Series of Ice Hockey between Canada and the Soviet Union", ''Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions'', 5, 2. Oxford: Taylor & Francis Ltd., September 2004.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Jason 1970 births Living people Musicians from Toronto People from North York 20th-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian male musicians