Gerald Wilson, 96, a music legend who enlivened packed jazz history classes at UCLA with his memories of working with Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and other jazz icons, died Sept. 8 at his home in Los Angeles two weeks after contracting pneumonia.    

A bandleader, trumpeter, composer, arranger and educator, Wilson taught in both the ethnomusicology and music departments. A popular teacher, he led a jazz history course, “The Development of Jazz,” from 1992 to 2008 and directed a jazz big band at UCLA from 1996 to 2004. In 2006, Wilson was awarded the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-Academic Senate Faculty.

Wilson’s jazz history classes were typically packed with students who wanted to hear from a "primary source" about his experiences working with such luminaries as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan. Jazz students who played in the big band under Wilson's baton also benefited greatly from his mentoring. Some of those same students are now making names for themselves as professional musicians, and a few, including trombonist Isaac Smith and saxophonist Kamasi Washington, were hired by Wilson to play in the Gerald Wilson Orchestra.

"We have lost one of the true giants of American and 20th-century music,” said Kenny Burrell, director of jazz studies at UCLA. “Gerald was one of the most respected jazz artists in the history of jazz. Like Duke Ellington, his music went far beyond the common practice used in jazz and popular music. He successfully created compositions for many different ensembles, going from combos to big bands to symphony orchestras, and using a variety of extended forms. He wrote music for the movies, for television and for a number of great musical artists.”

Wilson taught thousands of students at several universities, in addition to UCLA, Burrell said. “He loved to teach, and he helped his students gain a better knowledge and appreciation of American music and the art of jazz.

“Those of us who had the privilege to know and to work with Gerald will be forever grateful for his presence in our lives. Gerald Wilson was a true master of music and a great human being," Burrell said.

This obituary was adapted from one posted on the website of the Department of Ethnomusicology.