Thomas Blanchard Wilson Jr. (March 25, 1931 – September 6, 1978) was an American record producer best known for his work in the 1960s with Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Simon and Garfunkel and The Velvet Underground. He worked for Columbia Records, then went to Verve Records. March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... September 6 is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the performers, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes . ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... Frank Vincent Zappa[1] (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist. ... Simon and Garfunkel are an American popular music duo comprising Paul Simon and Arthur Art Garfunkel. ... The Velvet Underground (sometimes abbreviated as The Velvets or VU) was an American rock band first active from 1965 to 1973. ... Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ... Verve Records is an American Jazz record label, founded by Norman Granz in 1956, which absorbed the catalogues of his earlier labels: Norgran Records and Clef Records (founded 1953). ...

Starting out

Wilson was born in 1931 to Tom and Fannie Wilson. He grew up in Waco, Texas, where he attended A.J. Moore High School, and was a member of New Hope Baptist Church. Tom was known by his initials, T.B. in his youth. While attending Fisk University, Wilson was invited to Harvard where he became involved with the Harvard New Jazz Society and radio station WHRB; to the latter he later credited all of his success in the music business. Waco is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. ... Fisk University is a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. It was established by John Ogden, Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath and Reverend Edward P. Smith and named in honor of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmens Bureau. ... WHRB is the student-run radio station of Harvard College. ...

He was virtually the only African-American record producer working in mainstream American popular music, and was most productive in the 1960s, though he made his first mark in the mid-50s. Having a goal in mind of setting up a record label and recording the most advanced jazz musicians of the day, he formed a label called Transition Records. The label did release several albums, including the Sun Ra's Sun Song (which was Ra's first LP, though a second LP for Transition was unreleased until 1968) and the album Jazz Advance by Cecil Taylor. However, the label eventually folded, and most of their material was sold to Delmark Records, a small Chicago-based label. An African American (also Afro-American or Black American) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Jazz is a musical art form that originated in New Orleans at around the start of the 20th century. ... Sun Ra (May 22, 1914? – May 30, 1993) was an innovative jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, who came to be known as much for his cosmic philosophy as for his musical compositions and performances. ... Cecil Percival Taylor (born March 15 or March 25, 1929 in New York City) is an American pianist and poet. ... Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, Delmark founder Bob Koester got hooked on jazz after hearing artists like Lionel Hampton. ...

Columbia Records

As a staff producer at Columbia Records Wilson was one of the "midwives" of folk-rock. Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ... Bob Dylans folk rock album, Blonde on Blonde Folk rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music. ...

He produced Simon & Garfunkel's 1965 debut LP Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. which included "The Sound of Silence". Seizing on local radio interest in the song in Florida and inspired by the huge success of The Byrds' folk-rock version of Bob Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man", Wilson took the duo's original acoustic track and, without Simon or Garfunkel's knowledge, overdubbed electric instruments, turning the track into a #1 pop hit, helping to launch the folk-rock genre. Simon and Garfunkel, who had already split, re-united after the hit and went on to greater success. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is an album by Simon and Garfunkel released October 19, 1964. ... The Sound of Silence is the song that propelled the 1960s folk duo Simon and Garfunkel to popularity. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Byrds (formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964) were an American rock band. ... Bob Dylans folk rock album, Blonde on Blonde Folk rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... Mr. ...

Wilson's other major achievement was his work with Bob Dylan, producing Bringing It All Back Home. Wilson is credited as one of the producers of Highway 61 Revisited, even though he only produced one song, Dylan's 1965 single "Like a Rolling Stone," where he allowed musician Al Kooper to play the signature organ part, even though up to that point he had only been a guitarist. Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... Bringing It All Back Home is an album of original songs by American musician Bob Dylan, released on March 22, 1965. ... Highway 61 Revisited, widely regarded as one of the greatest albums ever, was the sixth album released by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... Music sample: Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone ( file info) — 30 seconds (of 6:10) Problems listening to the file? See media help. ... Mike Bloomfield (left) and Al Kooper (right) album cover Al Kooper (born February 5, 1944, Brooklyn, New York) is an American songwriter,producer, and musician, probably best known for organizing the group Blood, Sweat & Tears. ...

After working with Wilson, both Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel went on to work with another Columbia staff producer, Bob Johnston. Johnston produced several albums for both acts. Bob Johnston (born 1933 in Fort Worth, Texas) is a noted record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and many Nashville recording artists, as well as Simon and Garfunkel. ...

Verve Records

In 1966 he signed the Mothers of Invention to Verve Records and was credited as producer on the group's seminal debut album Freak Out! although it is widely believed that Frank Zappa, the leader of the group, did most of the real production work. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 - December 4, 1993) was an American rock/jazz fusion musician, composer, and satirist. ... Verve Records is an American Jazz record label, founded by Norman Granz in 1956, which absorbed the catalogues of his earlier labels: Norgran Records and Clef Records (founded 1953). ... Freak Out! is the debut album of Frank Zappa and his group, the Mothers of Invention. ... Frank Vincent Zappa[1] (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist. ...

For Verve Wilson also produced The Velvet Underground, featuring Lou Reed, John Cale, and Nico. Another of his Verve production credits was The Blues Project, which featured Al Kooper as vocalist and keyboardist. In fact, Kooper had met and joined the Blues Project after the band had auditioned for and been rejected by Columbia Records, where Kooper had been playing in Bob Dylan's band, which was being produced by Wilson. The Velvet Underground (sometimes abbreviated as The Velvets or VU) was an American rock band first active from 1965 to 1973. ... Lewis Allen Lou Reed (born March 2, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. ... John Davies Cale (born December 4, 1942) is a Welsh musician, songwriter and record producer. ... Christa Päffgen (October 16, 1938 – July 18, 1988) was a singer-songwriter, fashion model, actress and Warhol superstar, best known by her pseudonym Nico. ... One of the first album-oriented, underground groups in the United States, the Blues Project offered an electric brew of rock, blues, folk, pop, and even some jazz, classical, and psychedelia during their brief heyday in the mid-60s. ...

Wilson was also credited with producing the first album by Soft Machine. The Soft Machine were a pioneering British psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz band from Canterbury, Kent, England, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. ...

While it is undeniable that on most of his notable productions, the lion's share of the creative work is attributable to the primary artists, composers and instrumentalists on these recordings, it stands to reason that it is more than mere coincidence that Wilson was a supervising presence at the birth and blossoming of some of the major breakthroughs in American music in the mid-20th Century. From his championing of the innovative early work of Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor and Frank Zappa, to his shepherding of Bob Dylan from standout folk singer to full-fledged legend and voice of a generation; from his resuscitation of a dying Simon and Garfunkel duo, leading them to stardom and making possible the exploration of their unique musical world to his helming the session that yielded "Like a Rolling Stone", often cited as the single greatest song of the Rock 'n' Roll era,Tom Wilson was a crucial force. Though he rarely receives notice comparable with these mammoth achievements, Wilson clearly belongs in the discussion (along with luminaries such as Phil Spector, George Martin, Brian Wilson and Teo Macero) of the most important and influential producers of the 1960s. Harvey Phillip Spector (born December 26, 1940) is an American record producer of the 1960s and 1970s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942, in Hawthorne, California) is an American pop musician, best known as the lead songwriter, bassist, and lead singer of the American rock band The Beach Boys (of which he is also a founding member and the main producer, composer, and arranger). ... Teo Macero is a jazz saxophonist and record producer. ...

Selective discography

• Sun Ra: Sun Song
• Cecil Taylor: Jazz Advance
• 1964 Bob Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changin'
• 1964 Bob Dylan: Another Side of Bob Dylan
• 1965 Simon and Garfunkel: Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
• 1965 Simon and Garfunkel: "The Sound of Silence" single
• 1965 Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home
• 1965 Bob Dylan: "Like a Rolling Stone" single
• 1966 Mothers of Invention: Freak Out!
• 1968 The Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat