Robert "Juice" Wilson (January 21, 1904 – May 22, 1993) was an American

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

violinist.

Biography

Wilson grew up an

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

and was raised by his

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal re ...

from age three in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. He began playing drums in the Chicago Militia Boys Band, then switched to violin at age eight. By the age of twelve he was already playing with

Jimmy Wade James F. Wade (c.1895 – 1957) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Wade began leading groups in the Chicago area about 1916. He played in California and Seattle, Washington with Lucille Hegamin, and then moved with her to New Y ...

, and at 14 he performed with

Freddie Keppard Freddie Keppard (sometimes rendered as Freddy Keppard; February 27, 1890 – July 15, 1933) was an American jazz cornetist who once held the title of "King" in the New Orleans jazz scene. This title was previously held by Buddy Bolden and suc ...

. He worked on steamboats on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...

and did extended residencies with

Jimmy Harrison James Henry Harrison (October 17, 1900, Louisville, Kentucky – July 23, 1931, New York City) was an American jazz trombonist. Harrison began on trombone at age 15, playing locally in the Toledo, Ohio area. He played semi-pro baseball, bu ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. Early in the 1920s he worked in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

with Hersal Brassfield, then moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

to play with Eugene Primus as well as the Buffalo Junior Symphony Orchestra. In 1928, Wilson moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and played with

Lloyd Scott Lloyd Scott, MBE (born 13 October 1961) is an English former professional football goalkeeper and now charity fundraiser, best known in the UK for his charity marathons. He is notable for competing in the 2002 London Marathon in a deep-sea ...

at the

Savoy Ballroom The Savoy Ballroom was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harlem ...

. At the end of the decade he toured Europe with

Noble Sissle Noble Lee Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical '' Shuffle Along'' (1921), and its hit song " I'm Just Wild About Harry". ...

, and decided to remain there. He worked first in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

with Ed Swayzee,

Leon Abbey Leon Alexander Anthony Abbey (May 7, 1900 – September 1975) was an American jazz violinist and bandleader. Biography He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 7, 1900, to Luther James Robert Abbey and Eva Lee Alexander. He started his care ...

, the Utica Jubilee Singers, the

Louis Douglas Louis Winston Douglas, sometimes spelled Douglass (May 14, 1889, Philadelphia - May 19, 1939, New York City) was an American dancer, choreographer, and music businessman. Douglas toured Ireland with a children's revue in 1903 and then went on tou ...

s Revue, Little Mike McKendrick's International Band, and

Tom Chase Tom Chase (born March 6, 1965) is an American gay pornographic film actor who was active in the 1990s and 2000s. He is best known as the first lifetime exclusive model for Falcon Studios, and for his later work at Colt Studio Group. Biography ...

. He made trips to

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and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

before settling in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, where he became a local star. He worked there through much of the 1940s and 1950s as a multi-instrumentalist, and made further tours around the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

before coming back to the United States in the 1960s. He died peacefully in 1993.

References

Eugene Chadbourne Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic. Life and career Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twe ...

Juice Wilson Robert "Juice" Wilson (January 21, 1904 – May 22, 1993) was an American jazz violinist. Biography Wilson grew up an orphan and was raised by his uncle from age three in Chicago. He began playing drums in the Chicago Militia Boys Band, then sw ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

1904 births 1993 deaths American jazz violinists American male violinists 20th-century American violinists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians {{Violinist-stub