Today we’d like to introduce you to Larry Wilson.
Larry, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started playing drums in church at age three. I remember my mom or sister sitting me on. A stool behind just a cymbal and a snare drum and I would play some kind of beat. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been drawn to a set of drums. Up to about the age of 12, church was the only place where I could play.
That changed the 6th grade when my mother enrolled me into a Landon middle school for the performing arts. It was there that I learned how to read music and was introduced to jazz, classical, and other styles of music. When I was in the 8th grade heard the records “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis and Giant Steps by John Coltrane. And I was completely reborn in those records and I knew I was in love with jazz music. I went on to Douglas Anderson high school for the performing arts. It was there where I decided I really wanted to be a professional musician and the jazz was the avenue I wanted to specialize in. I was accepted into the Berkeley School of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Florida State University. I decided on Florida State because.. well… they gave me a full scholarship (lol) and FSU offered me a return to a more “normal” school experience I thought I had missed over my years in performing arts school.
After leaving FSU, I returned to my home town of Jacksonville, FL pursuing a career as a gospel musician and producer. The pace of working in ministry and production left me little time to tend to my pursuit of a career in jazz. But it did gain me a LOT of album credits. Some of which were nominated or won awards. As well as opportunities to work with some gospel music legends. Around age 27, I met the woman who would be my wife. She in such a small way helped me reignite my passion for this music. I made my way back to the music I fell in love with in middle school. At 29, I produced and released my first jazz album which Garnered critical acclaim both nationally and internationally. It also made the first round of consideration for the 2016 Grammys. A year later, we made the decision the move to Atlanta, Georgia to pursue our careers in a bigger market. Since then, I’ve been making my way around the various music and entertainment circles in Atlanta’s vast music scene. In 2019 I released my 2nd jazz album, “Our Thing” which was also considered in the first round for the 2020 Grammys for best jazz instrumental album.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t think there is a such thing as a “smooth road” in life. There are always going to be struggles, challenges, and even failures at some point on our journeys. And YES, I’ve had my share. One of the biggest failures I thought I had was not finishing college. I got caught up in some petty legal issues that caused me to violate the attendance requirements of my school causing me to lose my scholarship. But it was really more so that I mishandled an opportunity that most students don’t get by making unwise choices and not prioritizing the way I should’ve. I was distracted and lackadaisical. One of the biggest things I struggled with was depression and self-doubt. Never feeling adequate or good enough. I wasn’t the most popular kid in school. Didn’t get the most girls and I was never considered in the “it” crowd. I was different and weird trying to fit in and it fostered some really bad inner habits. Things like caring what people thought of me, always trying to impress people (usually to a fault) womanizing, procrastinating on the really important things in pursuit of less meaningful things that yielded faster gratification. It was really an identity crisis. I didn’t know or appreciate who I was. I grew up without a father and without a large family circle. So it was really tough to have any natural sense of belonging or identity.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a music producer. My company specializes in creating and producing great music. I produced my first full album in 2007 and it has really become something I love. I do everything from writing and composing songs to arranging and producing music for songs even mixing and mastering engineering for records. I do all styles and genres of music from Jazz to gospel, r&b, hip hop, rock, pop and just about everything in between. I’m most know as a music producer and musical director. I love assembling and working in teams, though I’m usually working alone. I pride myself on quality and service. I try my best to go above and beyond for my clients whether it’s a simple bar gig or a major record. What sets me apart from a lot of producers is my versatility. I can literally be a one stop shop for producing a song or an album. Everything is in house and as a multi-instrumentalist, I can sound like an entire band by myself. I can then go and mix and master a record that is industry-standard without a major label budget. My passion for excellence and the satisfaction of my clients is what drives me.
What were you like growing up?
I was always a clown coming up. Laughing and joking is my second favorite thing to do besides playing music. I was always the kid getting in trouble for joking and playing around. I’m still that way. I love stand up comedy, funny movies and cartoons to this day. I was a church boy as well. My mother is a minister and used to pastor her own church. So I was one that dealt with duality of holiness verses teenage antics. You know what I mean (lol). I was always a romantic, always crushing on some girl. So most of I did, how I spoke, what I wore, and how I behaved was centered around Impressing the ladies. Because of my family structure, I became an introvert. As much as I like interacting with people, I much more enjoy and am comfortable being to myself. I’m still that way. In any case, I have always wanted to have a great time no matter what I doing so whose with me, as long as we’re enjoying ourselves, it’s all good. I always liked sports by never seemed to become as big an enthusiast as most of my friends, which I believe made it harder for me to be in that “in crowd”. I was also never into rap and pop music because I was so “artsy fartsy” and a jazzed out church boy. I also didn’t wear the most popular name brand clothes and shoes coming up. I grew up in a single mom house where she was doing the best she could working as hard as she could. The only real thing I had to make me cool was music and my sense of humor.
Contact Info:
- Website: Larrymwilson.com
- Email: thecloudcoo@gmail.com
- Instagram: @larrywilsonmusic
- Facebook: m.facebook.com/larrywilsonmusic
- Other: Music.apple.com/us/album/our-thing/1453191002
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