Verve Records
Tall and ruggedly handsome, with the shoulders of an All-American fullback, not to mention a wide warm smile topped by an elegant little mustache -- well, Stan Wilson is something to see on a nightclub floor as he strides on stage, guitar in had. So far, wherever he has appeared, in Las Vegas or at Chicago's Black Orchid, singing Stan has created a stir. One of his first major engagements, for example, was the hungry i in San Francisco and a critic wrote: "Hungry i patrons are listening, soft and dreamy, to Stan Wilson and his guitar, who is billed as one of America's greatest contributions to music around the world . . . a great talent" Here's a few more critical judgments on Stan Wilson from Billboard: " . . . remarkable voice full of beauty and emotion on tender folk ballads yet filled with power and strength for those efforts that need the all-out approach." And from, to show Stan's range, Opera and Concert Magazine: "Stan Wilson is a . . . sensitive artist . . . "
Happily, all of this -- the aura of in-person excitement and the intimacy of the nightclubs where Mr. Wilson is to be seen -- has been captured in this album of folk song ballads and calypso. Wilson sings all kinds of songs within this framework. "I sing folk music primarily because I find my greatest expression in songs that tell a complete story" Stan once declared. "But I don't limit my choice of songs because of this alone. I sing any type of song that I feel that I can 'get into' -- folk, popular, calypso or whatever it may be."
One type, surely, that Wilson can "get into" with charming ease is the calypso. This is especially remarkable since Wilson is, as mentioned above, from San Francisco, which is a continent away from calypso country. How does he explain this? "I honestly can't," Wilson says, "except that I have a deep-rooted feeling for calypso. But then, I was lucky. I didn't go calypso country to learn -- the greatest calypso artist of them all, Sir Lancelot, came to this country some years back. I got to know him and learned an awful lot from him."
Wilson apparently, was an apt pupil, for in the end it was Sir Lancelot's comments that Stan Wilson is the only calypso singer he'd ever heard who ever played true calypso rhythm with the tricky accent just so -- the only one, that is, not from the Indies where calypso comes as natural as breathing to the singers. "When Sir Lancelot paid me that compliment I felt very, very proud," Wilson recalled.
Most of his calypso songs Wilson learned from Sir Lancelot, including the delightfully whimsical "Walter Winchell," in which that hard-hitting columnist is heralded for his ability to unearth just about anything that's newsworthy. It's an affectionate spoof all the way and if the columnist himself had any objections -- which he, of course, had not -- the account of his part in bringing the notorious Lepke to justice is also included in the song. There are two top-rate calypso tunes here -- "Potato" and "Kitch," both receiving a spirited treatment. The traditional-type folk songs run the gamut from the delightfully impudent "Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" to a moving spiritual, "When I Lay This Body Down." As though to uphold Stan's contention that he favors no type of music over any other., he includes such evergreen pops as the Harold Arlen - Johnny Mercer torch. "One for my Baby," and "Terry Gilkyson's" "Cry of the Wild Goose."
"What I love to do more than anything else," Stan Wilson says, "is sing for people -- everybody in the whole world. But it may take more time than I'm going to be allowed to reach everyone. So while I'm pursuing this ambition of mine, it's my hope that those who listen to this album of songs will enjoy them. And if I never get to you in person -- at least I'll have sung for you."
Side 1.
1. Walter Winchell
2. The Fox
3. Blow The Candles Out
4. Sixteen Come Sunday
5. The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly
6. The Cry of the Wild Goose
Side 2.
1. One For My Baby
2. Potato
3. When I Lay This Body Down
4. Tol' My Cap'n
5. Kitch
6.They Call The Wind Maria
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