COMPOSERS: Abram Wilson
LABELS: Dune
ALBUM TITLE: Abram Wilson
WORKS: Ride! Ferris Wheel To The Modern Day Delta
PERFORMER: Abram Wilson (trumpet, vocal); Errol Linton (harmonica) various musicians
CATALOGUE NO: CD0016
Abram Wilson’s record is vivid, sharp, conceptual, dark, powerful – but most of all, it’s brilliantly played. The British record label Dune has lately been specialising in a strain of jazz concept albums, but thus far they’ve let the music take something of a back seat to the central notion. Not so here: there’s elements of more popular currents than straight-ahead jazz in the set, but in the end Wilson, a gutsy, cleverly passionate trumpeter, trusts his band and his own playing to the point where instrumental jazz itself seems to carry the day.
Undoubtedly, there are superb turns from Errol Linton and Nathaniel Facey in the ensemble, but what one takes away from the disc is a set of crafted and sharply presented band performances. And always, in every crevice of the music, the blues makes its considerable presence felt. To my mind, this is as playable a record as the British scene will produce this year, as well as being strong enough to stand on an international stage. Richard Cook