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.
Thanks to the band for a great performance as we launch Philippa on our 2012 Spring UK Tour at The Hospital Club in London. Thank you to everyone who came out. It was a great night! Enjoy these pics by Ben Amure and the live sound clips of an exciting evening.
We had a grat time performing to a full house at Spice Of Life for Night Of The Trumpet Kings - Tribute to Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan and Woody Shaw. I'd like to thank all who attended, the band for playing an incredible show, my management team, promotoer of the night - Paul Pace and Ben Amure for some great photos. Thanks to everyone!
Running With The Flame, a salute to the 2012 Olympic Games is being composed right NOW and features an incredible septet performing exciting arrangements of folk songs from the six inhabited continents. It features the quartet with veterans Jean Toussaint - tenor saxophone, Pete King - alto saxophone and Winston Rollins - trombone. Summer tour dates are listed under The Abram Wilson Septet HERE.
We had a great time at Southbank Centre on Fiday afternoon marching 200 students into Royal Festival Hall in a New Orleans funeral procession before the quartet took to the stage to give a dazzling performance of original compositions based on the life of prodigy pianist, Philippa Schuyler. Check out the pictures as well as the track, Adventures In Black And White.
Here's a look at the dates for the Abram Wilson Quartet 2012 Tour. We're all excited about the 24 dates thus far as more are being added so stay tuned because we may be playing at a venue near you very soon!
Joining us for a select number of performances will be tenor saxophonist - Jean Toussaint, alto saxophonist - Peter King and trombonist - Winston Rollins. We start the year with a free gig at Southbank Centre on Friday 27th January at 5:30pm.
Click HERE for more details about all upcoming dates.
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.
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!