Thrill Ride
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But when Wilkerson decided it was time to preserve some of that music on wax, he found no takers. And though he was a second-generation member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians–a south-side organization founded in the 60s by experimentally minded players who couldn’t get gigs on the regular jazz circuit–he started his own label, Sessoms Records, with some reluctance. “People are always calling me an entrepreneur,” he says. “But I never had a desire to do that. I went to New York and I hit all the labels, I had lawyers presenting my stuff, I hit local labels, but I couldn’t get anyone to do it. That’s the only reason I put out my own records–because I couldn’t get anyone else to put them out.”
“I met with Marguerite and she kept telling me about this woman who had an alternative rock label and I was like, ‘Yeah, right,’” says Wilkerson with a laugh. But eventually he agreed to meet with Richards, who’d been a fan since the early 90s. They had lunch at Healthy Food, a Lithuanian restaurant not too far from Thrill Jockey’s Pilsen headquarters, and after another month and a half of discussion, they decided to work together. Last Option, the ironically titled new 8 Bold Souls album, comes out Tuesday. “I’ve never met anyone like Bettina,” says Wilkerson. “She’s unassuming and she’s really focused. There are dogs running around the office over there, but everyone works really hard all the time. She got more excited about it than I was. She called me every day about stuff, and I really liked that, to have someone that interested in what we’re doing.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Marc PoKempner.
