As fine a musician as Greg was thought to be by those who knew and worked with him, several of his fellow musicians considered him to have been an even better person and friend.  After he passed away in January 2025, a group of friends, all musicians, encountered one another at a memorial gathering for Greg.  Each of these individuals had known Greg for years, worked with him regularly, and developed close relationships with him.  Each, as some of them later recounted, had thought of himself as Greg’s best friend.  Each thought that his own friendship with Greg had been unique, one of a kind and had held a special place in Greg’s life.  But as they spoke, reflecting on Greg’s life and career, and their experience with him, they realized that Greg had treated them all the same, with equal levels of concern and interest in their well-being.  They suddenly understood that each of them had, in effect, been Greg’s best friend, which led one of the group to speculate, with astonishment, that Greg, in his regard for others, had probably, and literally, been “everyone’s best friend.”

Greg was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1953.  His family was solidly middle America.  His early musical influences were James Brown, Ray Charles, and rock & roll records.  He learned to play saxophone in middle and high school band programs.  At the University of South Carolina, he studied saxophones and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education in 1978.  After graduation, one of Greg’s music professors with ties to UT urged him and a close friend to move to Austin, which they did, enrolling in UT in January 1979.  In 1981 Greg finished his Masters Degree from UT in Saxophone Performance and his career as a professional musician unfolded from there.

For the next 40 plus years Greg’s work in music was a whirlwind of activity.  In the early ‘80s, with Austin jazz on the upswing, Greg found work in clubs along Sixth Street, and elsewhere, as good sax players were in demand and jobs were surprisingly plentiful.  He was remembered during this time for his strikingly youthful demeanor, the smooth, lively tone of his playing, and the professionalism and excitement he brought to the bands he worked with.  He became, as a fellow musician recalled, the guy you wanted in your band because he was fun to work with and you knew things would go well when Greg was with you on stage.

  

Greg’s teaching career also got started in the 1980s.  Though performing in bands was his first love, his teaching experience was extensive and gives insight into the breadth of his talent, his concern for the well-being and development of others, and his depth as a person.  Over the years he taught at both Texas State University and Austin Community College, but his long-standing work in the Round Rock School District left an indelible legacy on the lives of literally thousands of students, many of whom went on to become teachers themselves and who assimilated Greg’s teaching style as a model for their own work.  Often teaching as many as 60 students a week, Greg was beloved by many as a teacher who inspired countless young people to explore and discover their talents, as he had done, and to use those talents to lead positive and productive lives.

Though Greg originally wanted a steady gig in a rock & roll band, he actually played for many years in many bands.  He played jazz with the Tony Campise Big Band, the Creative Opportunity Orchestra, the Copa Kings and the Monster Big Band, among others, and jazz-rock with Blue Millennium.  He performed and recorded chamber music with the Nova Saxophone Quartet, and played roots music with 47 Indians.  An excellent reader and woodwind doubler, he was a top call for orchestras, touring shows, and big name entertainers such as Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, Manhattan Transfer, Clark Terry, Al Jarreau, Roberta Flack and the Supremes.  As one music contractor put it, Greg was “everyone’s second alto.”

Starting in 2000, Greg played baritone sax with the soul, funk and R & B band Mingo Fishtrap, fulfilling his wish to be part of a successful performing and touring band.  With Mingo Fishtrap he played gigs throughout the U.S. and as far away as Norway.  He only left the band in 2013 after he helped found and became the saxophone technician for MACSAX, an innovative company specializing in the design and development of saxophone mouthpieces, ligatures and accessories.

There are players in Austin jazz who work for years, and become well known throughout the jazz community, but who rarely receive, or even seek, public recognition beyond the community itself.  These players, who are characterized by an apparently selfless commitment simply to playing jazz, have sometimes been called Invisible Soldiers, and there’s little doubt that they form the backbone, if not much of the heart and soul, of the Austin jazz scene.

Greg Wilson was one of those Invisible Soldiers.  But he was more than that.  Through his personal relationships with musicians, students, and undoubtedly others, and through the expression of his regard for all with whom he worked and taught, he displayed a quiet strength of character and a sense common decency and humanity that transcended his work and that is sorely needed in this day and age, and will not soon be forgotten by those who knew and came in contact with him.  If ever it could be said of a musician that the whole of his life was greater than the sum of its parts, that statement would apply in remarkable ways to Greg Wilson.