Sule Greg C. Wilson...and sometimes friends and family.
Influences
My grandparents—Hugh Ella Hancock Gregory, Thomas Montgomery Gregory, Ernest James Wilson I, Beatrice Butler Wilson—and their children; Taj Mahal; Baba Ngoma; Eleanor Harris; Taiwo Duval; Miriam Makeba; Charlie McCoy; John Jackson; Mike Seeger; Hugh Masakela; Mongo Santamaria; Parliament/Funkadelic; Joe & Odell Thompson; Fred Newton; Blind Boy Fuller; Washboard Sam; Santana; Jimi Hendrix; Henry Thomas; Nathan Frazier; Big Sweet Lewis Hairston; Vinx; Larry Graham; Billie Holiday; Chaka Khan; Stozo da Klown; Clarke Buehling; Bessie Smith; Joe Ayers; Dom Flemons; Gus Cannon; John Blandford; Olukose Wiles; Fanta Damba; Bo Carter; Mississippi Sheiks; Tennessee Chocolate Drops; Fletcher Henderson; Bobby Blue Bland; Eubie Blake; Algia Mae Hinton; Aretha Franklin; the Beatles; Mamas & Papas; Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young; Memphis Minnie; Joni Mitchell; Stevie Wonder; James Brown; Grady Tate; C. Scoby Strohman; Prince; War; Earth, Wind & Fire; Ephat Mujuru; Dumisane Maraire; Alhaji Bai Konte; Murphy Gribble; Roy Ayers; Otis Taylor; Ali Farka Toure; Cathy Fink; Pete Seeger; Leadbelly; Jimmy Strothers; Othar Turner; Odetta; Libba Cotton; Etta Baker; Eileen Carson; Bo Didley; T-Bone Walker; Zap Mama; Digable Planets; Last Poets; Incognito; Erikah Badu…and you?
My mother was a Gregory, my father a Wilson; hence me: Gregory Wilson, the youngest of three children raised in Washington, DC. My brother and sister went to segregated schools; I didn’t have to (it’s that close!)
I got the name “Sule” (“Soo-Lay”) in Junior High School—all members of the Oya African Dancers and Drummers got “African” names. So, I’ve been Sule Greg Wilson, presenting folklore, music, dance and story since those days, forty years ago.
I’m mainly a percussionist: U.S., “Latin” and “African”. I worked with Baba Olatunji in 1976, and played with Tony Trischka in 1994 for his “World Turning” program. Currently, I play congas and washboard for the Repeat Offenders and dance, sing, percuss and play strings for the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Sankofa. I also play 5-string banjo and ukulele. I’m working on guitar and mandolin.
I’m also a dancer and tumbler, since the Oya days. As for dance, I first learned in my home and in the basements of DC. After moving to New York, I performed with the International Afrikan American Ballet from 1977-1982. I did guest spots with Boston’s Art of Black Dance and Music and Wo’Se in Washington, DC. After that I was co-director of the Bennu Ausar Ritual Dance Company in Brooklyn, and studied tap with Eleanor Harris and Charles “Cookie” Cooke of Cooke & Brown and the Copasetics. My wife, Vanessa, and I worked with Mama Lu Parks and her Lindy Hop company in preparation for the ’82 Harvest Moon Ball. I shared the floor and the stage with drummer/dancer C. Scoby Strohman, ethnographer/dancer Ali Abdullah, North Carolina buck dancer Algia Mae Hinton and others, too.
Vanessa and I got married in 1981, and have two girls Shepsut and Senbi Saa.
I also spent some time with capoeiristas Jelon Viera and Loremil Machado when I first got to New York, and they were fresh in the country.
After my time with International (photographer, dancer, drummer, light design), I was in the priesthood training of the Ausar Auset Society for six years (1982-1988). During that time I played for monthly ceremonies, annual retreats, and for the Society’s trip to West Africa (Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana) in 1985.
During all this time I went to school too. For two years I attended Oberlin College and played in their gamelon, and with guest artists such as Abraham Laboriel and LeRoi Jenkins. I needed more, so I transferred to NYU and got a BFA in TV Production, working as a short-term PA for the underground classic, Liquid Sky, and on other indie projects. I got my MA in History from NYU, also, as well as a certificate in Archival Management, Historical Editing and Manuscript Conservation. I also did credits towards a Public History certificate. With that, I’ve worked at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the NYPL and the NY Stock Exchange, as well as the World Bank and the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
Around the time I left International I started working on what became the book, The Drummer’s Path: Moving the Spirit with Ritual and Traditional Drumming. Ten years later it and its musical component, The Drummer’s Path: African and Diaspora Percussive Music, were published. I was lucky enough to get Olatunji’s original sideman, Baba Taiwo Duvall, to contribute two pieces to that project.
As that book came to fruition, I began working on the traditional African American strings: banjo and dance and such. Between 1992 and now I got to meet, play with and hang out with John Jackson, Algia Mae Hinton, Howard Armstrong, Joe Thompson, John Cephas, Mike Seeger, Cheikh Hamala Diabate, Clarke Buehling, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Guy Davis, John Sebastian and others. This deep interest and networking led to the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, NC, which I co-coordinated.
From that historic meeting grew the African American string band, Sankofa Strings, which was pregenitor to the Carolina Chocolate Drops. That led to our being featured in the award-willing documentary, Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost.
I’ve done presentations, taught or done residencies in Hermosillo, Mexico; Antrim, Northern Ireland and throughout the States, including Centrum in WA, the Joplin house in MO and Augusta in WV. I’ve played Carnegie Hall; Lincoln Center; the Newport Folk Festival; on A Prairie Home Companion; on radio in the U.K. and TV in France; at the Asantehene’s Palace in Kumasi, Ghana; in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, XM radio and living rooms all over. I also have a weekly online radio program: Rhythm & Roots, Sunday noon-2:00 on www.radiophoenix.org
I have three solo CDs: The Drummer’s Path, Ancestral Whirlwind and Runaway Dreams; two with Sankofa Strings, one with the Repeat Offenders, with Cloud Dance, with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer; the unreleased Pan-American ensemble Conjunto de Colores and on Minstrel Banjo Style. I am also featured on the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ releases.
My writings include The Drummer’s Path, Kwanzaa!: Africa Lives in a New World Tradition; African American Quilting: the Warmth of Tradition; and Drumpath Rhythms: Hand Drums and Meditations for the Global Community.
Let’s keep in touch!
Halloween! Frock & Roll and Radio Phoenix present a show like you've never seen! Over a dozen of the best local bands playing while local fashion designers showcase their wares on zombie models... Treasure mammaL is the MC... Costume contest... The Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight... Did we mention Zombie models? It is all happening at MADCAP and tickets are available at radiophoenix.org NOW!
I am glad to announce the release of my debut CD called "Interro Island". This is my first solo project, which includes original tunes composed and arranged by me. I hope you will enjoy my work!
Future Hip Hop Divas 2day at 4P-6P (Arizona time) on Hood Access www.radiophoenix.org. Listen to Eve, Monie Love, & newcomers Drama Ganza, Kitty Kat, & more!
You can listen on your I-phone, Blackberry, and other smartphones, too! You can hook the phone to your AUX jack in your car and listen. Whatever you do, listen.
Starting this Monday! We are recording video/audio of awesome local bands for the next season of the Bungalow Show on Radio Phoenix. Come out to support your local artists, and make this thing look/sound awesome! Free of course.
The Grateful Dead and the Beatles *both* started out as Jug Bands. What does Bob Weir (from the Dead) think of Jug Band music? Watch this video at 0:04.
Thank you for the add request and the support of Hood Access. If you're an artist, submit your music for airplay. Hood Access is broadcasted live on Radio Phoenix. We report to the College Music Journal, one of the most respected charts in the industry! We also pay royalties to Sesac, SoundExchange, ASCAP and BMI through our partnership with Live365.
"Ticklin' The Strings" by Sweet Hollywaiians
Amazing Japanese hot string band playing 1920's, 30's, 40's style hawaiian, swing, calypso, blues, italian music and originals,featuring vintage instruments.3 songs with Robert Armstrong and Tony Marcus(from Robert Crumb and His Cheap Suit Serenaders)
"The Sweet Hollywaiians have probably the best feel for this 20's music of any string band working today. They manage the rare feat of sounding relaxed even when their playing is hot, are top notch musicians with tasteful arrangements and a full, rich, warm sound.Plus, they have a nice gamut of tunes, from King Nawahi to Giovanni Vicari to Bobby Leecan. See them live, if you can, for an unforgettable experience. If you can't, buy their Cds!" ~ Terry Zwigoff
RALLY AGAINST GREED: "Balance The Bucks" Concert in D.C. “Balance The Bucks,” a free concert program to be presented on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is slated for 2 pm Sunday, September 6. The unprecedented musical performance will feature artists from across the country on stage at the Sylvan Amphitheater adjacent to the Washington Monument. The concert will feature a line-up of original tunes focusing on issues such as economic justice, redistribution of wealth, salary disparity, bailouts, foreclosures and the general impact of rampant greed. Event organizer and host Delmark Goldfarb hopes to “try to punch a hole in the cloud of money influence which soothes and smothers the Capitol.” For further details and/or to be a part of the sing-out, contact 503 708 7306; Del.Goldfarb@hotmail.com.
Here's hoping you won't be missing the party!
The Energy Trio and the Sugarthieves
Wednesday, April 22. 9PM - 2AM
@ Sail Inn - 1st St and Farmer in Tempe
Please check out our new comedic “vampire bankers” music video. The guy who directed this also directed Madonna’s first music vid. We think it’s pretty funny. It’s available as a free mp3 download on http://www.ukejackson.com
Thanks for being our friend! Uke Jackson and the NY Ukulele Ensemble
Have a great weekend. Thinking of you as I ponder on the "gift" that was presented to "us" so many years ago and the amount of love it must have taken to give so much for so many. I am thankful to be able to share in that "GIFT", and that "LOVE" with you. Have a "BLESSED EASTER" and of course you have a "FRONT ROW SEAT". As always thank's for being a friend.
The Energy Trio and the Sugarthieves
