Shadow Wilson

{{short description|American drummer}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Shadow Wilson

| image = Shadow Wilson, between 1938 and 1948 (William P. Gottlieb 09381).jpg

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| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_name = Rossiere Wilson

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|09|25}}

| birth_place = Yonkers, New York, US

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| death_date = {{death date and age|1959|07|11|1919|09|25}}

| death_place = New York City, US

| genre = Jazz

| occupation =

| instrument = Drums

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Rossiere "Shadow" Wilson (September 25, 1919 – July 11, 1959) was an American jazz drummer.

Much of Wilson's early work was with swing jazz orchestras. He played with

Frankie Fairfax's Campus Club Orchestra in 1936,{{cite book |last=Smith |first=W.O. |title=Sideman,The Long Gig of W.O. Smith: a memoir |url=https://archive.org/details/sidemanlonggigof00smit |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sidemanlonggigof00smit/page/38 38–40] |publisher=Rutledge Hill Press, Inc. |year=1991 |isbn=1-55853-132-7}} with Lucky Millinder in 1939, and following this, with Benny Carter, Tiny Bradshaw, Lionel Hampton, Earl Hines, Count Basie, and Woody Herman. Later in his career, he played with Illinois Jacquet, Erroll Garner, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Newman, Lee Konitz, Sonny Stitt, Phil Woods, Gene Quill, and Tadd Dameron.[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p138913/biography|pure_url=yes}} Shadow Wilson] at Allmusic The drummer was known to sit in at the famed Minton's Playhouse.{{cite book

| last = Rosenthal

| first = David, H.

| title = Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955–1965

| year = 1992

| publisher = Oxford University Press

| location = New York

| isbn = 0-19-505869-0

}} His nickname came from "his beautiful light touch with brushes," in the words of bassist Peter Ind.{{cite book

|title= Jazz Visions: Lennie Tristano and His Legacy

|first1= Peter

|last1= Ind

|publisher= Equinox

|year= 2005

|page= 32

|isbn= 978-1-84553-281-9

}} Wilson died of meningitis in July 1959.{{cite book |last=Spencer |first=Frederick J. |date=2002 |title=Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats |url=https://archive.org/details/jazzdeathmedical00spen |location=Mississippi |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=1578064538 }} He never recorded as a leader.