Perfect jazz festival fare - Abram Wilson's new album

04/04/2007

 Abram Wilson. new Orlean's award-winning son, has brought together an explosive ten-piece line-up of three bands in one - Delta Blues Trio, Londorleans Brass Band, and the Abram Wilson Sextet - to create one of the most exciting shows and albums in jazz today.

Called "Ride! Ferris Wheel To The Modern Day Delta" Ride! it received its world premiere at the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival 2006 and achieved a roaring standing ovation. The album was recorded at Pinewood Studios soon after, and a triumphant, sold-out London Jazz Festival date at the Queen Elizabeth Hall 2006 capped a short run of dates in November.

Ride! tells the story of Albert Jenkins, a talented young trumpeter from Mississippi set to take over a jazz club that has been in his family for several generations. Everybody is counting on him. But Albert has other ideas. Instead he opts for a life of touring with a hip-hop band, The Outsiders, leaving his family behind.

This new life brings excitement, temptation and, ultimately, tragedy in equal measure - as Albert finds himself hooked on illicit substances. Bad news from home comes as a wake-up call, but he soon realises that The Outsiders have no intention of allowing him to leave in order to shoulder his pressing responsibilities. He is trapped.

Ride! presents the age-old dilemma of tradition versus modernity, family ties versus personal freedom. Running a jazz club represents the past while playing hip-hop embodies the future.

Just eighteen months prior to the release of this album, many African-Americans’ histories and lives were senselessly washed away by Hurricane Katrina and government inaction. Given this tragedy, the need to hold on to something of a previous generation is more pressing than ever. Ride! has jazz. Ride! has hip-hop. And above all, Ride! has blues and, in many ways, this is the idiom that pervades the set more than any other.

Hailed by the Times as “Perfect jazz festival fare. A little Crescent City showmanship, some fine blues singing and rapping, topped off by the band parading off stage in Mardi Gras style," Abram tours Ride! internationally from April 2007, with a live showcase at SXSW in Austin, Texas as part of a Dune label showcase. A feature of the live show is a prologue specially recorded by blues giant, Dr John.

Ride! is released on 9th April 2007. Ride! retails at £13.99 but is currently available from the HMV website for £8.99.