University of Akron jazzed to bring local guitarist Dan Wilson onto program faculty

Slowly but surely, the University of Akron is building up its jazz program faculty.

The latest active musician to join the teaching roster is jazz guitarist Dan Wilson, who tours regularly and earned a Grammy nomination working with jazz great Joey DeFrancesco.

The Bath native and Revere High School graduate was recruited by friends and fellow musicians Chris Coles and Theron Brown, full-time professors who've been revamping UA's jazz program since fall 2022.

Wilson started teaching at UA this semester, building his touring schedule around his classes and lessons. As a performing artist, he travels one to two weeks a month.

So far, he teaches private jazz guitar lessons to two UA students and also works and performs with two student jazz combos, including a piano trio and a quartet.

Wilson, 39, said he's fully onboard with Brown and Coles' vision for regrowing the UA jazz program and teaching the next generation of local jazz artists. He talked about the jazz scene from decades ago on Akron's Howard Street, and how he wants to see music embedded in Akron's culture.

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"Any way I can help further the music scene here I think the better, because there's this common misconception that in order to find world class musicians, you have to go to a more heavily populated city, like New York or L.A.," Wilson said. "Their sound and their talent is formulated within another environment," where the musicians originally came from.

He talked about African American music — including spirituals blues, New Orleans music, jazz, gospel, F&B, funk and rock — existing on a continuum.

"I make it a point to help students understand that the music is tied to culture, is specifically tied to African American culture," Wilson said.

Wilson giving lessons at UA

During an hourlong lesson in his office Feb. 13, Wilson was on his electric guitar talking student Blake Smith through chord progressions, focusing on music theory for jazz improvisation.

"You've definitely got the hands for it," Wilson told Smith of playing guitar.

The 23-year-old Smith, a fifth-year marking major from Sandusky who'd been teaching himself guitar via the internet for four years, relished the opportunity to learn in person from a jazz pro.

"It's really hard trying to connect the dots with all the voices on the internet," Smith said. "I feel like I had somewhat of an ear for it but I really needed someone like Dan to bring it all together."

Wilson, who's also self-taught, said Smith has a lot of natural ability. The professional artist, who has a packed performance schedule in Northeast Ohio and out of town, brings life lessons as a musician to the table for jazz students.

"I always want to have something practical to offer them so it's not just like teaching empty concepts, but hey, this is what works on a gig," Wilson said.

He talked to Smith about taking the guitar theory exercises they've worked on a step further in music making: "If you find a situation in which you need to break the rules, do it."

Reputation precedes Wilson

Marc Reed, dean of UA's School of Music and the School of Dance, Theatre and Arts Administration who has a jazz trumpet background, was thrilled to learn that Wilson, whose reputation as a jazz artist preceded him, lives in the Akron area. Hiring him as a part-time lecturer was a next logical step to augment UA's jazz program.

"I know the value from having studied jazz of having a teacher that actually plays your instrument and does what you do," Reed said. "If you want to have more students, we have to have the faculty to teach them."

Future hires needed to round out the jazz faculty are drum and bass teachers, the dean said. Along with Wilson, pianist Brown, 37, and saxophonist Coles, 38, would form a UA faculty jazz quintet that could go on tour and do student recruiting.

"At one time, we had a pretty active faculty jazz group. And then with COVID that kind of went defunct with Jack (former jazz director Jack Schantz) leaving. So getting back to that and beyond would be great," Reed said.

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Wilson a natural choice, program directors say

Wilson was roommates with Brown in 2013, when both were working as performers and Brown was studying for his master's degree at UA.

"Once you play on the jazz scene, you kind of realize how small of a community is," Wilson said of getting to know both Coles and Brown since the early 2000s.

Brown, Coles and Wilson have all performed for the Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival, which began in 2016 and for which Brown is artistic director.

Bringing Wilson into the jazz faculty was a natural choice for Brown and Coles.

"The community has known him for a very long time. They've supported him," Brown said. "He has his heart in the right place and morals."

When Brown and Wilson lived together, Wilson would be shredding his guitar upstairs and then come downstairs to share a new tune with Brown, patiently explaining chords and rhythms that Brown said were beyond his level.

"Obviously he can play. But being able to connect with students and meet them where they're at, I learned that from experience, living with him. Dan was like a teacher, big bro to me when we were living together," Brown said.

Wilson joining the faculty will bring the program a big step further, Coles said.

"What it means to have Dan on is I think it makes it add greater legitimacy to what we're trying to do," he said. "With someone like the pedigree of Dan, it puts everyone on notice: Yeah, we're really trying to do this."

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Who is Dan Wilson?

Wilson, the son of retired dentist Dan Wilson Sr. and retired Judge Carla Moore, chooses to stay in the Akron area, where his wife Dina Younis' family also is based. Plus, Wilson, who's been hunting since he was 8, said the hunting's too good in Ohio to leave.

Endorsed by Benedetto Guitars, Wilson plays a Pat Martino model that's versatile for the jazz, funk and gospel styles he plays.

The guitarist grew up in the House of Jacob church with 17 of the most masterful guitar players he's ever met. All of them were into jazz, and Wilson would sit in the front row as a child and stare at the skilled guitarists as they played.

"I believe that there's no substitute for culture," Wilson said. "It was just like playing guitar growing up. That was just a thing. Everybody in my church did.

"That was my training," he said. "It was more cultural than formal."

One of Wilson's biggest influences was guitar great Arthur Lee Gale, who revolutionized how guitar was used in the church by incorporating jazz of the day. Wilson's father grew up with Gale, whom Wilson used to call when he was a teen to ask questions about Gale's guitar playing.

"I think you're the greatest in the world," Wilson told Gale, who still lives in Akron.

Wilson studied music and liberal studies at Hiram College and received his master's in jazz studies at Youngstown State University, where he met Coles, an undergraduate jazz student at the time, in a student jazz combo.

Wilson's first tour was in 2008, with heavy touring coming in 2015, when he toured with saxophonist Eric Marienthal to Russia and Germany.

The guitarist made his recording debut with pianist Joe McBride and performed to worldwide acclaim with DeFrancesco as well as Christian McBride’s Tip City.

It was DeFrancesco who put Wilson on the national music scene. He played for the Philadelphia jazz organist DeFrancesco from 2015 to 2019. DeFrancesco was a child prodigy who started playing organ at age 2 and played with Miles Davis at age 17.

"I think he's the best jazz organ player that ever lived," Wilson said.

Wilson now plays his own trio or quartet at jazz festivals and other gigs throughout the nation, including the 10-day The Jazz Cruise, a jazz festival at sea that launched from Miami in January.

The guitarist said he loves playing in Akron, especially at Blu Jazz+.

"That's been sort of the home of the resurgence of music in the city," he said. "All these young players are coming up, and they have a place to kind of work out their concept."

Among his local gigs, he'll play at the Knight Stage at the Akron Civic Theatre March 2.

Wilson's fourth album, "Things Eternal," came out in 2023. It honors his mentor DeFrancesco, who died suddenly in 2022.

The first track on the album is, in fact, a voicemail from DeFrancesco. The album, which includes two originals by Wilson, also pays homage to both of his grandparents, whom he lost in recent years.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: UA jazz program adds guitarist Dan Wilson to growing faculty