Phillip Wilson -- who is sometimes credited as Philip Wilson or Phil Wilson, but not to be confused with the trombonist of that name -- was one of the top drummers of his generation in jazz and blues, and even made a splash in rock circles in the end of the 1960s. Born Phillip Sanford Wilson in St. Louis in 1941, he emerged at the start of the 1960s at the forefront of avant-garde jazz. He made his recording debut in 1962 on soul-jazz organist Sam Lazar's album Playback, but during the mid-'60s he moved solidly into avant-garde music as a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and he also cut albums both with them and with their co-founder Roscoe Mitchell. In mid-1967, Wilson was approached by Paul Butterfield to join his band; their drummer, Billy Davenport, had grown weary of touring and had just retired, and Butterfield and guitarist Elvin Bishop were eager to reconstitute the band in new terms. Wilson was central to those efforts, a drummer as progressive as Davenport had been rooted in '50s blues.