A Jumpin’ Somethin’, issued in 1999, is a collection of jazz influenced originals with two standards. Although the CD was lumped in with the current Swing Revival, Chip views it differently: “First, there was no drum kit, and although the music has the sense of swing that I love in jazz, it was written from a songwriter’s perspective as opposed to a dance band leader’s viewpoint. You wanna dance? Yeah! That’s great! Much of this music is danceable. But really, I was thinking about the great songwriters and some of the great musicians of the Jazz Era, and tried to let my instrumentation, arrangements, and lyrics reflect all that I had been absorbed since I was a kid, checking out my father’s record collection.”

Favorites from A Jumpin’ Somethin’ include “Eat, Eat, Eat”, an ode to New Orleans food, “You Run Me Ragged”, with its beautifully recorded archtop guitar, string bass, sax and violin instrumentation, and the bluesy Inappropriate Women. “I’ve played that song in many forms and tempos. The lyrics are a warning to myself, which I have largely ignored, as it turns out.” The playing of Charles Neville (flute on “Millionaires”), Michael Ray (trumpet on “Everybody Uptown”) and Mem Shannon (nylon string guitar on “Cottonfields”) along with original Jumpin’ Somethin’ band members Alvin Young and Steve Goodson and other guests including gypsy jazzers Tony Green and Tom Morley all added up to a solid solo debut effort.

The critics liked the record, Chip’s peers in the New Orleans music community nominated it for a “Best of the Beat” Offbeat Magazine Award (Chip and Wynton Marsalis both lost that one to a New Orleans favorite, trumpeter Kermit Ruffins), and the independent release set Chip on his own path in New Orleans music, writing and playing the music of his choice.

Mostly Blue has some of the same components that made A Jumpin’ Somethin’ work so well. However, concentrating on the bluesy side of his songwriting, Chip has chosen to present solo, duo, and trio as well as full band formats. The full band features Greg Wiz on drums, another departure from the chamber jazz concept of the debut CD. Additional vocalists are present for the first time on a Chip Wilson solo release (check out the duet between Chip and David Rivet on “My Mind Says Go”, along with Chip’s overdubbed doowop vocals on “I’d Like To See You”). Duets with Johnny Vidacovich on percussion, Mark McGrain on harmonica and John Rankin on guitar are teamed up with the full band productions including Greg Wiz, Peter Williams, Tim Paco and Ryan Burrage. Mem Shannon again guests on electric guitar on the urban blues “Attitude Rules”, trading licks with Chip’s electric archtop.

“My inspirations ranged from Lonnie Johnson and Robert Johnson to Snooks Eaglin and Walter “Wolfman” Washington. My personal favorites are the title song “Mostly Blue”, “My Mind Says Go” with Dave Rivet and maybe the least bluesy song on the record, “Dancer’s Waltz” with the lovely fiddle/clarinet interplay between Matt Rhody and Ryan Burrage,” says Chip. ‘But I am happy with everything, the grooves are there, and I was able to work my instruments of guitar and voice to something near their fullest potential on material that continues to amuse me when I play it.”

One final note on Mostly Blue: it represents some of the last recorded playing by New Orleans great Erving Charles, Jr., who worked with Fats Domino, Snooks Eaglin, Dave Bartholomew, Irma Thomas and Marva Wright among other NOLA music luminaries.

“Erving came to the session wearing bedroom slippers and a great attitude. He liked the song “My Mind Says Go”, and it shows in the recording. I learned a lot from that man during the year or more that I worked with him regularly.”

Map of the World contains previously released and unreleased material. Six of the songs come from a small scale project called Regional Dispute, released only on cassette in the mid-1990s, just as Chip was moving from Vermont to New Orleans. “My favorite, most frequently heard in my current repertoire, is “NOLA”. I loved the instrumentation: Sean Harkness’s fretless bass, Chad Hollister’s percussion, my acoustic guitars, and Eric Koeller on soprano sax. This material meant a lot to me when I recorded it, and I am glad to re-issue it.”

The rest of the material dates from the first sessions that ultimately resulted in Mostly Blue. “I chose my best songs for those sessions, but later, I felt that they were stylistically too variable. I realized, though, that the feel of the Regional Dispute material and the less bluesy material from the Mostly Blue sessions was similar and complimentary. The world beat influences in both projects are prominent.”

“My plan is to continue to record CDs of originals and select standards, thematically, as I have with A Jumpin’ Somethin’, Map of the World, and Mostly Blue. I will try to record a record of solo and duo pieces, I think. Most of my gigs now are in those formats, so it seems appropriate. Along with my voice and guitars, I’ll try to use instruments that I love, like sousaphone, trumpet, violin, maybe clarinet.”