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Shortly after Motel's Adrian Milan rediscovered Wilson and was busy reissuing the landmark recording, Milan played the record for documentary film director Michael Volk, who shared Motel's penchant for oddball 70's film soundtracks.

Volk, who is best known as an expert on Ethel Merman, was so taken by the music and Milan's efforts to find Wilson that he set out to document Wilson's history and rediscovery on film. The result is You Think You Really Know Me-The Gary Wilson Story, a film that is as informative, complete, and seductive as a great Ken Burns work. The first half of the film covers Wilson's history as a talented and iconoclastic musician and performance artist growing up in Endicott, New York. His history is traced through his move to San Diego in the late 70's, with every important living individual in Wilson's life interviewed. The film adds suspense as, if you go into the film knowing nothing about Wilson, you are sucked into his magic early on, but don't realize until the middle of the film that Wilson is still alive.

From this point on, Volk accompanies Wilson on the trip from San Diego back to New York for the Michael's Pub re-emergence concert and then takes Wilson back to his hometown of Endicott and his re-introduction to his father and the famous basement for the first time in 24 years. The film ends with a reunion concert in the Endicott movie theater with a band consisting of friends he hadn't played with in over two decades. They did not forget the tunes.

I saw the film at the Lincoln Center film festival in 2004 to a packed audience with Wilson attending a question and answer session following the film. Finally, in 2005, it has been commercially released and I urge you to check your local art house to catch it. (Check the film company's website at www.gorgeousentertainment.com.)

Gary Wilson-The Present

The only problem I have with Volk's film is that I think it shares the Ken Burns Jazz problem. It does such a great job of addressing Wilson's history that it ignores the present. That is, one leaves the film not knowing if Wilson has been actively writing music for the past twenty years, or if he got fed up and gave up music entirely. Fortunately, the answer is the former. Wilson disconnected his phone twenty years ago as he was tired of getting bad news about his music.

Wilson's move to the West Coast over twenty years ago was part of an attempt to gain a greater audience for his music, but he became frustrated as no one took him seriously. So, for the next twenty years, Wilson continued to write and record new creative music while playing jazz lounge music on weekends to pay the bills. Wilson liked the contrast of writing and recording his new stuff with playing the completely commercial and crowd pleasing music on weekends.

Fortunately, the income Wilson earned from the Motel records re-releases enabled him to purchase a computer and to release his newer works online through his website www.sixpointfour.com. The result was 2003's Mary Had Brown Hair (Gary Wilson, no catalog number), which he sold directly. This CD covers most of the significant music Wilson has written over the last twenty years with an emphasis on most recent years. The tunes follow the Wilson formula of obsessive love songs over a slick jazz-rock backdrop, but with an updated sound.

Wilson's Fender Rhodes and drums have been replaced by digital synths and drum machines as the core sound, and Wilson also makes extensive use of pitch shifting his vocals as he takes on different characters in his tunes. Think of Burt Bacharach on acid. The same distorted guitars from the old days are there in spades, however, in every tune. Admittedly, the tunes do not grab one by the throat as do those on You Think You Really Know Me, and it does take many listenings to truly appreciate the album's magic and depth.

Wilson also throws in a few treats from the 70's, including the title track, a free-form Cage-ian romp, where Wilson's guitarist Vince Rossi demonstrates that the percussion instrument with the greatest dynamic range is a closely miked piano string as it's tightened to the breaking point.

Don't try to find this original self-produced CD on Wilson's website, however, as, in 2004, Wilson got the attention of Peanut Butter Wolf, owner of Stones Throw records, who decided to remaster and reissue Mary for global distribution. Yes, for the first time in his life, Wilson has a major label behind him doing active promotion. Wolf did not alter the sound or mix one iota from Wilson's self produced version, but he rearranged the sequencing, removed some tunes and added others, including two bonus tracks--rare original arrangements of Wilson's 6.4 Equals Make Out and Chromium Bitch, from 1976 that predated their release on You Think You Really Know Me. These priceless arrangements are a must have for the serious Wilson musicologist as they are completely different from the final versions. The release is available on CD and vinyl (with the two bonus tracks included as a 7 45 with the LP-sound quality is excellent on both). Moreover, there is a dance remix 12 EP entitled Newark Valley which features three cuts from the album on one side, and instrumental versions on the other.

The Newark Valley EP is a must buy, even if you get the "Mary" CD, as it's insightful to hear the slightly different all-instrumental mixes of the "Mary" tunes. First, without the vocals (and the content of the lyrics), the music takes on a completely different vibe and presentation. Second, without the vocals it's very easy to appreciate the genius of Wilson's melodic, harmonic compositional techniques as well as his subtle yet innovative process of arrangement. And, certainly, the instrumental tunes stand by themselves as strong musical statements. They remind me of a cross between the music you'd hear while waiting to enter the space show at the Hayden Planetarium and the stuff you hear while you're placed on hold to order one of those late night TV "and if you send before midnight tonight!" 800 numbers.

Wilson's association with a label means he's actually been touring regularly, drawing from his original Endicott musicians, half of whom still live in Endicott, and the other half who moved with him to San Diego two decades ago. Wilson's brother, Larry, an actuary living in Florida, is added on bass for the East Coast shows.

After a recent concert at New York's Rothko, I was speaking with Wilson and Peanut Butter Wolf outside the club and I thanked Wolf for releasing Mary on vinyl. Wilson turns to me and says: Yeah, vinyl sounds better, doesn't it? It's warmer and richer. Got that right, Gary.