ABRAM WILSON APPOINTED AS INAUGURAL TURNER SIMS PROFESSOR BY SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY
Music at Southampton has appointed two leading international artists as the inaugural Turner Sims Professors of Music
I'm really excited to be able to announce that I have been appointed Turner Sims Professor by Southampton University along with baroque violinist Adrian Chandler.
It's a real honor to be part of such a great university and fantastic venue where I have had the pleasure of playing and delivering educational workshops for a number of years. I'm looking forward to working with Head of Music, Andrew Pinnock at the University's music department and Kevin Appleby, Concert Hall Manager at Turner Sims on a range of jazz programmes and events over the next two years.
For the full press release click HERE.
ABRAM WILSON BECOMES FIRST JAZZLINES ASSOCIATE ARTIST
PRESS RELEASE FROM BIRMINGHAM TOWN HALL & SYMPHONY HALL
The New Orleans-born trumpeter, educator and composer, Abram Wilson has been announced as an Associate Artist of Jazzlines, Town Hall and Symphony Hall’s dynamic new strand of jazz concert programming and inspirational education work. Abram Wilson is one of today’s leading musicians on the UK and European jazz scenes receiving widespread critical acclaim as a solo artist, band leader and composer. In his first major project as Jazzlines Associate Artist, Abram Wilson has led over 200 local school children in a series of rehearsals where they have learnt a specially commissioned piece composed by him. This exciting project will culminate in a public performance at Symphony Hall on 28 May 2012 as part of the annual Ladywood Showcase.
The Jazzlines programme, which was launched in April, is produced by Tony Dudley-Evans and Mary Wakelam, building on their hugely successful work as the creative forces behind Birmingham Jazz. It is supported by a three-year funding grant from Arts Council England under the National Portfolio Organisation scheme. Tony Dudley-Evans, Jazzlines Artistic Adviser said, “Birmingham’s jazz scene has a worldwide reputation, both for the variety of programmes and the quality of presentation and Jazzlines will continue this by nurturing young players, commissioning new work and running national tours. Our intention is also to present some more high profile jazz groups within both Town Hall and Symphony Hall.”
Abram Wilson said, “I am thrilled at the opportunity of becoming an Associate Artist of Town Hall and Symphony Hall, working in association with Jazzlines. It’s a relationship I believe has been nurtured over the years and our vision has always remained the same: to bring jazz music to as many young people as possible and to uplift the community through jazz music.”
OLYMPIC SEPTET HEADS TO CHELTENHAM JAZZ FESTIVAL
After another sell out gig and a standing ovation at Bedales near Petersfield we are on our way to Cheltenham Jazz Festival for our third gig of the Abram Wilson Olympic Septet tour. We're peforming at 12:30PM TOMORROW (Monday 7th) at the Jazz Arena. Before that my quartet is doing a family show at 10:30AM.
Here's a sneak preview of a couple of tunes, Pokarekare Ana and A Caminha.
Enjoy!
ABRAM WILSON OLYMPIC SEPTET - SELL OUT SHOW AT RONNIE SCOTT'S!
"The New Orleanian trumpeter lets his charisma shine through between a raft of memorable solos"...THE EVENING STANDARD
The premiere of my new Olympic septet project, Running With The Flame, performed to a sell out show at London's most presitgious jazz venue, Ronnie Scott's on Wednesday night.
For two hours we transported our London audience to the warm weather of Australia, India, Sudan, China, New Orleans, New Zealand, Brazil and South Africa as well as the colder temperatures of Russia with a collection of international folk songs arranged in a unique style rooted directly in the jazz tradition.
My highly acclaimed regular quartet grew to seven with the strong presence of the legendary Peter King on alto sax, Jean Toussaint on tenor sax and Trevor Mires on trombone. I had a great time playing with such awesome musicians and we worked hard to give people a global perspective of jazz music whilst swinging hard, playin' the blues and improvising at the highest level!
Next stop Bedales Arts in Petersfield TONIGHT followed by Cheltenham Jazz Festival on MONDAY 7th.
TOUR DATES
4th May - Bedales Arts, Petersfield
7th May - Cheltenham Jazz Festival
8th June - Taliesin Arts, Swansea
26th July - The Watermill Jazz Club, Dorking
29th July - Hull Jazz Festival
ABRAM WILSON SEPTET - GETTING READY TO HEADLINE AT RONNIE SCOTT'S
Abram Wilson Quartet photo credit: Benjamin Amure
I'll be leading my newly formed septet, which features the legendary Peter King, Jean Toussaint (Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers) and my man Trevor Mires. And of course the band wouldn't be complete without regular band members Alex Davis (double bass), Dave Hamblett (drums) and Reuben James (piano).
We'll be kicking off the start of seven dates where we'll be performing 'Running With The Flame', original jazz arrangements inspired by the London 2012 Olympics and traditional folk songs from around the world including Scarborough Fair, made famous by Simon & Garfunkel. I have to say...I'm EXCITED.
2nd May - Ronnie Scott's, London
4th May - Bedales Arts, Petersfield
7th May - Cheltenham Jazz Festival
8th June - Taliesin Arts, Swansea
ABRAM WILSON 2nd REVIEW IN LONDON JAZZ
(Randolph Hotel 6th April 2012, part of Oxford Jazz Festival. Review by Alison Bentley) Trumpeter Abram Wilson brought a little bit of New Orleans to Oxfords's very English Randolph Hotel. By the end of the show, the audience were on their feet cheering as Abram walked out still soloing and the band carried on playing the blues. In the foyer you could tell who'd been to the gig by the smiles on their faces. Abram had taken us through the life of mixed-race New Orleans piano prodigy and political journalist Philippa Duke Schuyler- his original tunes were linked together by the narrative. Different scenes from Philippa's life inspired various moods, and the audience was drawn in to the story from the start. Some tunes expressed her childhood innocence and passion for life. Adventures in Black and White opened the set, with its modal chord sequence, propulsive bass and sensitive drum fills. Abram communicated warmly and passionately in both his narration and playing. The lyrical playing of fellow New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard sprang to mind, and the bluesy keening and musical humour of Jack Walrath. Abrams plays like a singer, with beautiful phrasing that never loses the listener's attention. He plays as if he means every note. In Goldfish and the Wolf, with its sense of childhood wonder, we heard Abram singing in his soft tone with a Stevie Wonder-like sweet vibrato. The Harlemites celebrated Harlem's cultural richness. Abram promised the bright chords would be uplifting, and indeed they were. Reuben James' strong motivic piano soloing stood out, with its swaggering McCoy Tyner-ish chords, rhythmic stabs and cross-rhythms. Other tunes expressed Philippa's ambivalence about her racial identity: the Naima-ish ballad Longing for Love (beautifully sung and played from the heart by Abram) and the fast swing of Lord Have Mercy. In Trouble on the Home Front Abram played exciting high trills and squeals over its afro-latin grooves and almost rock piano riffs. Philippa became disillusioned by white treatment of black musicians. In Find a New Soul, her move into journalism was portrayed by the clattering urgency of a TV news theme, 60s afro-latin grooves and Debussyesque piano chords to depict her journalism in the far east. The audience especially loved this one. The dark thrum of The Cogdells recalled the Texan racism of Philippa's maternal family. Its edgy broken rhythms atonal melody moved into a dark minor groove in 5/4 . Dave Hamblett's drum solo had lots of energy, sparkling cymbals and a big sound As the audience yelled for more, Hidden Blues started like a Jelly Roll Morton stomp with an Armstrongy trumpet feel, a fine rootsy bass solo by Alex Davis, swinging blues and huge sense of fun. This young British band is in the middle of a tour to celebrate 10 years of Abram Wilson living in the UK, but he has New Orleans in his soul.
ABRAM WILSON 4 STAR GUARDIAN REVIEW
Live Review of Abram Wilson Quartet at Pizza Express Jazz Club, London
4th April 2012
Being a jazz performer with his own vivid stories to tell, the London-based US trumpeter/vocalist Abram Wilson probably won't be bursting into grateful tears at comparisons with Wynton Marsalis. He would probably twist a wry smile at the gap between their respective funding levels, too. But there are certainly similarities. Wilson also comes from New Orleans, plays very classy trumpet with the blues power, street-party swing and expressive vibrato common to players from that city, and likes to make a gig an event rather than just a stream of enigmatic tunes and byzantine solos. He's currently touring with a tale of the extraordinary life and times of Philippa Schuyler, the mixed-race child piano prodigy turned journalist who died while reporting in Vietnam in 1967.
It's to Wilson's immense credit as a narrator and musician that he can balance this complex tale with a vivacious contemporary jazz performance that stands up in its own right. He sparingly applied his Nat Cole-meets-Motown voice to reflections on Schuyler's childhood, and later to her troubled search for love across America's racial divide. He kept his between-songs narrative tight, witty and moving, and delivered a series of glossy trumpet improvisations in the company of a young band (pianist Reuben James, bassist Alex Davis and drummer Dave Hamblett) that began cautiously, but then threw that to the wind. Light-stepping themes evoked Schuyler's childhood wonderment, from which Wilson segued gracefully into solos of pure long tones, tumbling runs and dramatic, circular-breathing trills. The 1930s Harlem Renaissance was represented in debonair dance grooves that turned into modern-swing closer to 50s Miles Davis, and the group touched on the Watermelon Man funk sound of the next decade as Schuyler's journey advanced. Wilson's next move is to turn it into a staged play. It is a work in progress that will be fascinating to follow.
Friday 6th April 2012 - The Guardian, John Fordham
Images - Ben Amure
ABRAM WILSON IN LONDON METRO TODAY! p.31
- Posted from London, United Kingdom
ABRAM WILSON QUARTET BEGIN UK TOUR AT PIZZA EXPRESS - APRIL 4
ABRAM CELEBRATES 10 IN UK ON APRIL 4 @PIZZAEXPRESS
Abram Wilson celebrates 10 years in the UK as he kicks off a 20 date UK Tour at Pizza Express in Soho on April 4th. Thanks to Jazz Services and Arts Council England, Wilson brings his exciting new quartet to London to perform music from Philippa - a new project featuring original music about mixed-raced piano prodigy, Philippa Schuyler. Some dates feature his new septet called Running With The Flame which includes both Jean Tussaint, Pete King and Winston Rollins on traditional folk songs from around the world in which Abram has arranged in a swinging jazz style in tribute to the 2012 Olympics. Check out the schedule HERE and come out and celebrate a 10 year New Orleans /London jazz party all around the UK! Book Pizza Express Tickets HERE.
