Music producers generally work behind the scenes garnering little public recognition. Some, like Phil Spector and Quincy Jones, earned acclaim outside the industry; however, others faded into obscurity. Tom Wilson, one of these overlooked figures and a contemporary of Spector and Jones, matched them in influence. A musical alchemist who coaxed new sounds out of legendary musicians, Wilson spearheaded innovative directions for jazz and rock and roll in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

Church music and education undergirded the Wacoan family into which Tom Wilson Jr. was born on March 25, 1931. His father served as the choir director at New Hope Baptist Church, where his grandfather, a college professor, was a founding member. Though he only played the trombone, choir participation and family jam sessions nurtured in the young Wilson a love of music. These musical mash-ups often occurred at his educator grandfather’s rug laundry, where Wilson also learned to work hard. It was this family belief in achievement that propelled Wilson from Fisk University to Harvard where he graduated in 1954 with a degree in economics.

While in Boston, Wilson dove into its jazz scene. He deejayed for Harvard’s radio station, WHRB, where jam sessions and his involvement in the Harvard New Jazz Society helped cultivate a love for the experimental genre. Working at WHRB, Wilson later stated, was the job that most greatly influenced his later success. Jazz was undergoing an evolution, and Wilson wanted to capture it. So after graduating, he started the aptly named Transition Records. Wilson possessed an ear for pioneering sounds, locating unknown artists like Sun Ra who pushed the boundaries of jazz. Over four years at Transition Records, Wilson recorded over twenty albums with musicians like John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor. Wilson’s involvement in all aspects of album production and positive reviews didn’t, however, translate into financial success, so he sold the label in 1957.

He worked for several labels in artists and repertoire before landing at Columbia in the early 1960s. It was at Columbia that Wilson left an indelible mark on the music industry. Though a novel practice at the time, Wilson took the initiative to locate new talent. This practice led him to a struggling folk duo by the name of Simon and Garfunkel. They recorded with Wilson but broke up until the producer’s surreptitious addition of electric instruments on “The Sound of Silence” brought them massive success and contributed to the development of folk-rock. Wilson also worked with iconic troubadour Bob Dylan on several of his albums, notably Bringing It All Back Home. On that record, Wilson encouraged a more electric sound, and with songs like “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” helped launch Dylan into a new phase of his career. The legendary track “Like a Rolling Stone” was also a Dylan and Wilson collaboration. Wilson then rode this wave of success into a job at Verve/MGM in Los Angeles.

In his new position, Wilson continued to experiment. His initial signing was the eclectic sound of Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention. To his collection of artists Wilson also added the Velvet Underground. The band’s psychedelic tone and graphic lyrics meshed well with Wilson’s penchant for testing musical limits. Wilson went out on his own in 1968, launching a production company which accompanied his short-lived radio program “Music Factory” and two publishing companies: Terrible Tunes and Maudlin Melodies. Such a move made sense for a man at the forefront of the 1960s music scene.

Tom Wilson embodied the 1960s. A 1968 New York Times feature on Wilson described his clothing and interior design as encompassing the smoothly audacious style emblematic of the period. Wilson managed to be “far out” with his artists and productions, but kept his personal life and habits more private. His wife and children, while spending some time around the studios, remained a distinct entity, apart from his work. Music, he told his son, creates a “respite” from the demands of life. Journalists described Wilson, a study of contrasts, as “enigmatic” and a “master dissembler.” He was a man who had his finger on America’s musical pulse but also seemed to hover above it.

By the 1970s, however, Wilson produced less. The music he did develop didn’t sell as well, so he turned his attention to creating music for movies. Earlier Wilson had produced a jazz version of the West Side Story soundtrack (Bossa Nova) and Dylan song on the soundtrack for Easy Rider. Wilson remained in the music industry but pursued this new direction. He died at age forty-seven of a heart attack, a complication of his Marfan syndrome, on September 6, 1978. Only in death did Wilson return to Waco where he rests in the Doris Miller Memorial Park. Wilson was shrouded by his brief career and notable contemporaries, but current efforts like Producer Tom Wilson and Invisible Icon seek to posthumously recognize Wilson for his musical impact.

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In the 1960s and 1970s, the taste of pizza and the sound of Dixieland jazz went hand in hand for Wacoans who frequented Shakey’s Pizza Parlor. Shakey’s, the nation’s first franchise pizza chain, would become famous for pioneering a winning combination of casual dining and live music in hundreds of restaurants nationwide. The Waco Shakey’s provided a relaxed atmosphere for food and fun at 1420 North Valley Mills Drive until its closure in 1978.

In 1954, friends Sherwood Johnson and Ed Plummer opened the first Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Sacramento, California. After having suffered a case of malaria during World War II, Johnson earned the nickname Shakey. When the time came to open their first restaurant, both owners decided to name the franchise after Johnson’s playful moniker. Both owners dreamed of creating a restaurant in which families could not only eat, but one that offered vibrant live music reminiscent of a bygone era. During a time in which live music and sit-down dining remained largely separate in public establishments, the culinary experience that Johnson and Plummer created stood out. Dixieland jazz bands and banjo players combined with costumed staff to create a lively atmosphere of 1890s frivolity. Johnson, a banjo player himself, encouraged subsequent parlor owners to offer live banjo-infused tunes as well. Indeed, for decades to come, old-timey piano melodies and banjo strums offered a lively backdrop for pizza outings.

The second Shakey’s opened in Portland in 1956, followed soon after by dozens of new outlets throughout the United States. By 1967, the chain boasted more than 272 locations. Shakey’s began an international expansion the following year. As the nation’s first franchise pizza chain—which would later be emulated by chains such as Pizza Hut—Shakey’s charted new territory in the American restaurant world. The restaurant offered pizza, beer, and live music—a formula that proved as successful as it was simple. Restaurants in decades past had catered to wealthy fine-dining elite and road travelers. But as automobiles became more ubiquitous and families moved out of cities and into suburbs, the 1950s saw the rise of franchise dining and, later, of family casual dining. Waco was no exception. When Shakey’s opened in Waco in 1966, the restaurant offered a whopping twenty-one varieties of pizza as well as several Bavarian beers. The Waco location also catered to its university population with a designated Collegiate Room, geared toward the town’s young adult crowd.

While Shakey’s remained a local favorite for the next decade, the chain began to suffer after both Johnson and Plummer sold their shares to the Colorado Mining and Elevator Company in the late 1960s. The closure of Waco’s Shakey’s in 1978 mirrored a national trend. By 2010, the restaurant claimed only fifty-eight restaurants in the United States.But while Shakey’s locations in the United States struggled under new ownership and the shifting tastes of the American public, the franchise found much success internationally. As of April 2019, the chain boasted five hundred stores globally, the majority outside of the U.S. To this day, Shakey’s remains a bright spot in the memories of many patrons, evoking memories of lively music and lighthearted dining.

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