Abram Wilson Foundation

If you haven't checked out the new hair yet here's your chance to get a good look, yes it's all gone!

As you can see from the photos and videos, we had a great time recording at BBC Maida Vale last week for the Jamie Cullum BBC Radio 2 show.  

It's due to air on Tuesday 13th December between 7PM - 8PM, don't worry if you can't tune in then as you'll also be able to catch it on BBC iPlayer. 

Recording some of the music for our Christmas gigs has made us really excited about playing with Jason Marsalis and Myrna Hague. If you still haven't bought a ticket you can book your London seats here  and your Southampton seats here. 

We hope to see you there!  

We finally got some images from our gig at Harrow Arts Centre on 18th November.  It was a great gig and the audience were amazing.  The gig sold out, the signed CDs sold out and we played hard!  We wanted to thank the team at Harrow Arts Centre for their support and of course Sheila Maurice-Grey and her beautiful artwork.  Without her there wouldn't have been been a first set!

If you were there, we hope you enjoyed it.  If you weren't, we hope these photos and short film give a flavour of how much fun we had.

Finally the day of our London Jazz Festival gig has arrived! Tonight at 8PM we'll be playing tunes from my last album Life Paintings as well as new music from the project Singing Pictures, a collaboration with young artist Sheila Maurice-Grey.

We'll be selling some unedited limited edition signed CDs of Singing Pictures. The CDs will include postcards of the artwork that inspired the tunes. If you're really lucky you might win one, but only if you buy your tickets in advance.

As you can see from the photo the CD factory is now closed, phew! Hope to see some of you there tonight, gonna be a good gig.

Book: http://www.harrowarts.com/go/music/details/777-h-wired-abram-wilson

It started with a Musical Picnic at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 5th November where I performed a jazz for toddlers workshop to a big crowd of jazz babies and their parents.  It was a great experience watching so many kids hear jazz for the first time. They were amazed!  Check out the pictures of the kids, me and the band. It was just like Sesame Street and we think Alex would make a great Big Bird!

Yesterday was Jazz for Toddlers Part II this time organised by the  London Jazz Festival. I led a workshop at Kings Place with the awesome Hopal Romans to 25 jazz babies. We learnt about the trumpet, the rhythm section, the blues, swing and improvisation thanks to the help of some new friends which included Daddy Blues, Carmen the Blackbird and Mr Scat.  

Tim Dickeson from Jazzwise was there to catch it, you can check his blog out here: http://jazzontour.posterous.com/london-jazz-festival-2011-abram-wilson-phrone

We have two more Jazz for Toddlers workshops to go and they've both sold out!  

You can still check out me and my quartet (Alex Davis, Dave Hamblett and Reuben James) this Friday 18th November at Harrow Arts Centre. 

Time: 8PM

Tickets: £14/£12

Book tickets in advance and be in with the chance of winning an unedited limited edition CD which we'll be selling on the night.

Book: http://www.harrowarts.com/go/music/details/777-h-wired-abram-wilson

In case you missed my Facebook and Twitter updates from the last couple of days here's all the images I took of the band during their rehearsals for LOUIS: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin and the birth of jazz which is being performed at the Barbican tonight, Sunday 13th November at 3PM and 8PM. 

Band leader Wycliffe Gordon was inspiring and the band was awesome.  Thanks to them, film director Dan Pritzker, the crew and Serious for this unique behind the scenes insight into what is going to be a seriously swinging gig. 

Enjoy!

Yesterday and this afternoon I got to sit in on the LOUIS band rehearsals at Terminal Studio which is being performed tomorrow, Sunday 13th November, at the Barbican at 3PM and 8PM.

I had a great talk with trumpeter Jumaane Smith and Philip Dizack today about why they loved the music and there is a killing video of the band during the rehearsal yesterday.

If you haven't bought a ticket yet, then go do it! I can't recommend this gig enough, in the words of Smith (off camera) the music is "beautiful, intricate and amazing".  Couldn't have said it better myself.

The final rehearsal for our upcoming gigs this weekend went without a hitch on Tuesday and now we're just looking forward to playing some jazz!

The Abram Wilson Quartet will be performing as part of the Rush Hour Blues series this Friday 4th November setting some jazz sparklers alight for two whole hours. 

Gigs starts - 5PM

Where - Symphony Hall

The next day we'll be singing, swinging and stomping that thing at Symphony Hall's Musical Picnic!  It'll be a great show for all the family and a perfect way to spend your Saturday morning with the kids.

Performance - 10:30AM - 11:30AM

Where - Symphony Hall

Last but not least, you've probably noticed from my tweets and Facebook updates that I've been spending A LOT of time in Birmingham. Well, after the Abram Wilson Quartet performance on Saturday morning all the groups I've been working with over the last two months will be showing off what they've learnt and I'll be playing with them. 

It's gonna be GREAT, looking forward to seeing you there!

The e-flyer is ready people, but are you? 

The Abram Wilson Quartet, that's me, Alex, Dave and Reuben, will be playing on Friday 18th November at Harrow Arts Centre as part of the London Jazz Festival. 

We are going to perform two extraordinary sets comprising of my latest album, Life Paintings and a collaborative effort featuring brand new compositions inspired by young artist, Sheila Maurice-Grey entitled Singing Pictures.

This event promises to be an eye opening musical interpretation of my journey from New Orleans to London and a young woman’s fight to hold on to her cultural identity.

Time: 8PM

Book: http://www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/2011-11-18/abram-wilson-ljf2

or http://www.harrowarts.com/go/music/details/777-h-wired-abram-wilson

See you then!

Yesterday a guy called Bob Shingleton got in touch to tell us about his blog On An Overgrown Path. 

On the 80th anniversary of Philippa Schuyler's birth this August he published a profile of her together with specially made recordings of her early piano music and an analysis by the Grammy winning conductor John McLaughlin Williams.

He even wrote a piece about Abram's own Philippa project, which was performed earlier this year at the Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho and Spice of Life. The Abram Wilson Quartet are going to tour and record it next year. 

As a result of his blog BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting a 20 minute profile of Philippa at 8.25pm TONIGHT (Oct 14). 

Hope you can check it out. 

The last two days the Abram Wilson Quartet has been rehearsing hard.  In case you've missed it, the Quartet is now officially me on trumpet and vocals, Alex Davis on bass, Dave Hamblett on drums and Reuben James on piano. 

We've got some great gigs lined up, check out the calendar for more details, but here's a quick snapshot:

4th & 5th November - Birmingham Symphony Hall for a gig AND a workshop (with Matt Fisher replacing Dave on drums)

18th November - Harrow Arts Centre as part of the London Jazz Festival

23rd November - Recording for the Jamie Cullum Radio Show!!! Should be aired 6th December

17th December - Kings Place with Jason Marsalis and Myrna Hague

18th December - Turner Sims with Jason Marsalis and Myrna Hague

Here's some photos of us at the end of the two days, about to head home.