The Official Website of Jim Wilson

CDNOW: What is the least fun about being a professional musician?
JIM W: Having to type out interviews for CDNOW.COM. ....HEY! Seriously! I'm LOVING this, are you kidding!?

CDNOW: If you weren't a professional musician, what job or career would you have?
JIM W: I'd work at a haberdashery. ...So what's it?

CDNOW: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
JIM W: Did I mention that Cape of Good Hope and Northern Seascape are BOTH available right here on CDNOW.com? And that operators are standing by waiting to fulfill your order? Also, if I may make a suggestion, besides their providing lasting listening pleasure, these CDs make EXCELLENT wall covering. Figure on at least 4 CDs per square foot.

...OK... for real... thank you so much to CD NOW.com for featuring my music. As we're recovering from one of the darkest moments in American history, I pray that my music can provide people with some small measure of solace.

ANNOUNCER:
When it comes to pianos, an expert is definitely needed. Indeed, an expert like Jim Wilson. He has been tuning for some of pop's greatest talents for years, but now he's branching out.

ANNOUNCER #2:
Right. Wilson's tickling the ivories on his own album and his friends are tickled pink.

ANNOUNCER:
When the big names in the music business need their pianos tuned they call Jim Wilson.

JIM WILSON:
I've been at it about 20 years or so.

ANNOUNCER:
Wilson's clientele includes Paul McCartney, Elton John, Phil Collins, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Barry Manilow, and Lionel Richie, just to name a few.

JIM WILSON:
I was tuning for somebody who was a close friend of Chick Corea's and within a few months I was tuning for Chick and the word kind of spread from there.

ANNOUNCER:
We caught up with Wilson at the home of jazz pianist George Duke.

GEORGE DUKE:
[to Jim:] You know *you* ought to be playing. [to camera:] He came in here playing the beat one day. You know I was like, "Wow!!"

ANNOUNCER:
This is Wilson's piano and Wilson's song "Northern Seascape"--the title track of his first album.

DAVID FOSTER:
There's a unique twist on this album. There's Irish stuff and "folk-y" stuff. I think it stands kind of a real shot.

GEORGE DUKE:
It holds together like a seasoned artist... I mean this record does not sound like somebody's maiden voyage.

ANNOUNCER:
By now you're thinking, "Sure he got an album made because of his high powered friends." Not true...

JIM WILSON:
I am very happy to say that my acquiring of this record deal had nothing to do with imposing on any friend. I just sent these packages out unsolicited to all these different labels. Within about 3 weeks I had 6 or 7 different labels interested in signing me.

ANNOUNCER:
Grammy-winning composer David Foster says the piano field is dominated by John Tesh and Yanni, but...

DAVID FOSTER:
There's room for a third. There's no reason at all why it can't be Jim.

ANNOUNCER:
In the meantime, Wilson continues to tune pianos and in his spare time works with his engineer on his own music, but soon he'll have to make a choice....

DAVID FOSTER:
That would be a question. Are you prepared to give up your other profession?

JIM WILSON:
I see this as my higher calling. I do feel that I can do a lot of good with this music.

Elton John Fanzine Interview

ELTON PIANO TECH SIGNS FIRST RECORD DEAL
East End Lights Fanzine
By Tom Stanton

Jim Wilson has visited Elton's Woodside home, shared a limo ride with him, and even been his stand-in at an Academy Awards rehearsal. He has been a guest in the homes of David Crosby and Carole King, and sung Beatles songs with Paul McCartney, and written with Dan Fogelberg, and hung with Keith Emerson and Phil Collins, and gotten tips from Chick Corea. As a piano technician, Wilson's been in the music business and around big-name stars for most of the past 20 years. But not many experiences have been more fulfilling than the positive reaction to his first solo album, Northern Seascape.

"I knew very early on that this is what I wanted to do," he said. "It's always been a driving passion. Even so, it was very pie-in-the-sky."

Wilson began writing music when he picked up a guitar at age seven. Years later, he moved to Los Angeles from Amarillo, Texas, to pursue the music. "But I got distracted," he said.

Wilson built a successful business and was at the forefront of a revolution, helping develop in the 1980s the first Midi-adapter for acoustic piano. (The adapter triggers programmed synth sounds when the player hits particular keys.) "I've gotten to meet every hero I've ever had," he said. "It was a magical carpet ride. But soon 1979 became 1997."

It was the death of a friend that provided the catalyst for Northern Seascape. "It made me realize how easily I could float through life and not confront and create the art inside of me," he said. "I had the artistic aspirations and always thought I'd get around to it. It's only recently that I've realized I can connect with large numbers of people."

Wilson released the CD himself last year and quickly drew interest from six labels. He signed with Angel EMI Records and is among Yamaha's newest endorsed artists. Wilson reluctantly admits that his current CD will be categorized as New Age when it hits record stores in January. "New Age is the bin that it would go in," he said. "But a lot of what I hear in that category is lacking in melodic and harmonic content. This does have the moody vibe of New Age music. But it uniquely blends cinematic, Celtic and pop music. "For me, melody is king. It is the most important thing," he added. "It is my goal to write music where you can peel away every bit of the arrangement and have a strong melody underneath it."

Elton fans will recognize some familiar names on the liner notes. Davey Johnstone plays mandolin, mandocello and guitars. Charlie Morgan contributes percussion. "I got to know all the guys in the band through working with Elton," said Wilson. "Davey has been especially supportive." Johnstone was impressed when Wilson sat in at the piano for Elton at a rehearsal the night before the Oscars. "That's when he became interested in my music," he recalled. "When I recorded the album, the very first person I called was Davey." Johnstone so enjoyed the songs that he listened to it with wife Kay as she birthed their son Charlie. "It's that good," said Johnstone. "It's almost New Age stuff, but a bit cooler than that. He's a wonderful piano player. He totally blew me away." Johnstone also will appear on the follow-up album, due out in 1999.

On Northern Seascape, some of the most powerful songs are the title cut, written with Fogelberg; "Mon Ami Eternel," featuring saxophonist Dave Koz; and "Django's Hope," written for David Crosby's son. "I hung out at David's house when his wife, Jan, was pregnant with their first child," he said. "I was thinking of the child and ... about them giving birth later in life. David had left me alone with his piano. I finished work on his piano, and wrote the song on it. A year and half later I played it for David."

Such inspiration can strike at any time. "Half of my songs come to me when I'm in the middle of doing something else," said Wilson. "I'll be reading the newspaper or talking to somebody. The very second I realize something's there, I'll go to the piano. It does come from a very deep place."

Over the years, Wilson has been inspired by a variety of pianists, ranging from Carole King to Keith Jarrett. He counts Elton among his idols as well. He met Elton at Woodside, his home near Windsor Castle. After an enjoyable visit [Elton had to leave to record vocals for "That's What Friends Are For" ] Wilson thanked the star and told him, "You're a gentleman and a scholar." To which Elton responded, "And a great female impersonator, too." "He's a very, very bright man," said Wilson. "An intelligent guy, very funny and clever, witty. He has a certain eccentricity about him.... I don't know of any other artist on the planet who has been as potent as he has over the past 30 years. It's a delight to have been around him."