Philippa swings (like a pendulum do)


New Orleans born and London domiciled trumpeter Abram Wilson is seen above at the April 2011 premiere of his new project, Philippa, a jazz suite celebrating the pianist and composer Philippa Schuyler. Scored for a quartet of trumpet, string bass, piano and percussion, the movements of the suite include Adventures in Black and White, paying homage to her mixed parentage, The Harlemites, mirroring the circle Philippa's black radical journalist father moved in, and Steak and Potatoes, reflecting the eccentric dietary regime imposed by her white mother. More on Abram Wilson's jazz suite here, my profile of Philippa is here and John McLaughlin William's analysis and recordings of her early piano music are here. BBC Radio 3 broadcast their development of these paths, The Colour of Genius at 8.25pm on Friday October 14. Great to see the pendulum swinging in Philippa's favour.

* Excerpts from the Philippa suite are being played by the Abram Wilson Quartet in Rush Hour Blues at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, at 5.30pm November 4th. Abram Wilson talks about the inspiration behind the music of Philippa here

Also on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit Ben Amure. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

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