Trumpeter, bassist. Born 1927?; died August 21, 2003 in Washington, D.C.
Attended Linton Hall Military School in Manassas, Virginia and Western High School. Served in U.S. Army.
Led Dixieland bands at Jazzland and The Bayou starting in the early 1950s. Member of many ensembles including the Bicentennial Jazz Band, the Washington Monumental Jazz Band, and the Not So Modern Jazz Quartet.
Began playing bass after being advised by his doctor to stop playing cornet after suffering a broken blood vessel in his neck while performing in 1963. He spent ten years as a bassist before resuming the cornet in the early 1970s.
By day, Whelan was a cartographer for the U.S. Army until 1984.
Bibliography
Byler, Robert, and Gary Wilkinson. “Washington’s ‘Wild Bill’ Whelan: A Capital Horn and Bass.” Mississippi Rag, February 1997.
Hague, James E. “Mapmaker William F. Whelan Is Wild Bill in Dixie.” Washington Post, December 30, 1951.
Herron, Paul. “On the Town.” Washington Post, November 9, 1951.
Herron, Paul. “On the Town.” Washington Post, February 14, 1951.
Levy, Claudia. “‘Wild Bill’ Whelan Dies; Fixture in D.C. Jazz Clubs.” Washington Post, August 22, 2003.
Lodge, Thomas E., Jr. “Ellington’s D.C. Bash Postponed.” Down Beat, June 16, 1948.
Lodge, Thomas E., Jr. “D.C. Spot Back in Groove with Sunday Dixie Dates.” Down Beat, July 29, 1949.
Mastrangelo, Joseph P. “Hard Times & All That Jazz: Area Musicians’ Moonlight Gigs Jazzmen.” Washington Post, July 6, 1981.
Sampson, Paul. “Jazz Opens Concerts at Watergate.” Washington Post, June 19, 1958.
Stokes, W. Royal. “Getting Wild Again.” Washington Post. November 20, 1983.
Stokes, W. Royal. “The Rag Bag.” Mississippi Rag, April 1997.
Whelan, Wild Bill. Interview. Interview by W. Royal Stokes, March 8, 1983. W. Royal Stokes Collection. Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
That is my Father. The best dad anyone could have. I used to fall asleep with my head on the bandstand when he played at Buzzys. I am his youngest daughter and will/have always missed him and my Mom every day that they have been gone.