Singer still delivers ballads, blues and big band

David Renzi

Friday, March 29, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

One of the good things about tonight's engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton for Nancy Wilson is she gets to sleep in her own bed after the gig. Las Vegas is among three places the singer calls home, along with Pioneer Town and Hermosa Beach, Calif.

But earlier this week she was away from homes, in Washington, D.C., finishing another episode of "Jazz Profiles" for National Public Radio. The new documentary series (which will not be carried locally) chronicles the people, places and events in jazz history.

"It's fun. I've learned more about the artists than I've ever dreamed of, just reading the scripts," says Wilson, who narrates the series. She had just finished work on the 10th installment, on pianist Horace Silver. The series calls for 39.

Episodes on Dave Brubeck, Carmen McRae, Clark Terry, Gerry Mulligan and John Coltrane are in the can.

Wilson, 59, had read the script for an Ella Fitzgerald tribute on NPR a few years ago "and they kept me in mind for this," she says. "I've met and known most of them, but there are so many things you don't know about them, and you have it all in a concise hour."

Wilson's own career is marked by prolific recording -- 59 albums by her count. The majority of those were on Capitol Records, for which she recorded from 1960-1980. A three-CD box set chronicling those years, "Nancy Wilson: Ballads, Blues and Big Bands," is due out in April.

It begins with "Like in Love," her first album, and runs through "Take My Love," her last album for Capitol until 1995's "Spotlight on Nancy Wilson" -- about 60 songs in all.

"I came along at a time when that's what you did," Wilson says, referring to all the recording she did over the years. "Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Tennessee Ernie Ford, we were all at Capitol and we all recorded two albums a year, one every six months. I loved it. It was so professional. Everybody knew what they did. The singer sang, the writers wrote, the arrangers arranged, the musicians played."

And the sessions were all recorded live -- in and out, no fuss, no muss.

"I think that's the best way," Wilson says, adding she still records that way "whenever I get a chance."

No slave to the road, Wilson "takes the dates that make sense" at this point in her career.

But even they consume a lot of time.

"If I ever thought about how many nights I was working, I think I would get upset," she says.

So, when is she happy?

"Once I get up there (on stage). It's just traveling and hotels and being away from home (that she finds difficult). But that's always been a problem for me. Once I'm on the floor, it's great. I've never been thrilled about the show-business aspect of it."

For her Hilton engagement, Wilson will share the stage with pianist Ramsey Lewis, with whom she recorded ("The Two of Us") in the '80s. Lewis and his rhythm section will open, and the two headliners will perform a duet before Wilson and her trio (Llew Matthews, John B. Williams, Roy McCurdy) end the show.

Wilson's choice of material ranges from pop to jazz, but she defies categorization.

"I don't think about it like that. I just try to pick some good songs that will work."

Unfortunately, Wilson says, no one is consistently writing the kinds of songs she cut her teeth on.

"Stephen Sondheim (whose songs she recorded in 1994) isn't that singable, although (the Broadway) shows are wonderful. That's where most of the things have come from, and the songs just don't transfer from Broadway to record. As far as what we were accustomed to, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, I miss those. I miss the sophistication. I still prefer those."

But of all the songs in her repertoire, "Guess Who I Saw Today?" is "the one that if I don't sing it, people will walk out disappointed," Wilson says. "It's done everything for me. It became a signature song."

Wilson's professional career began at age 15, when she had her own television show in Columbus, Ohio.

"I was representing my high school at a TV station for a talent show, and they pulled me out of the contest and gave me a TV show," she says.

Wilson toured with Sir Raleigh Randolph and his Sultans of Swing while still in high school, and the Midwest and Canada with Rusty Bryant after graduation. The experience she gained on the road served her well when she finally went to New York "because I felt that I knew me and I really had a chance to learn."

It was important to Wilson to find a manager who treated her as a person first and a commodity second, and she found one in John Levy.

"It's not a happy life necessarily," she says. "I didn't see a whole lot of happiness out there and thought he would put me before the revenues."

Apparently he did, because he's still her manager.

"He sure is," Wilson says. "He's 83."