Born in New Orleans, Louisiana Wilson was best known as an American jazz musician, who moved to London in 2002. He had extended his career from music into a few appearances as an actor, notably in Tim Supple's As You Like It for Dash Arts and the UK premiere of Tarrell Alvin McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water, which played at the Young Vic Theatre in 2009. He died of cancer in 2012.