The Guitar Player's Resource
And now for something completely different. If you like your music composed and well within your melodic, rhythmic and tonal comfort zone, please move on. On the other hand, if you like the idea of totally free improvisation, where you can never be sure what the next few minutes of music might bring, perhaps the Adam James Wilson Quintet's CD Unify would be right up your alley. Wilson, who uses a fretless guitar so as not to be constrained to the production of discrete pitches, works with four other instrumentalists (flute, drums/percussion, piano and violin) to explore unparalleled improvisational avenues, bringing chaos to order, and order back to chaos. If you are ready to give up your preconceived ideas of what improvisational music can be, Unify could be the challenging listening experience you have been searching for.
Adam was born in New York in 1975. He studied composition and classical guitar at the Oberlin Conservatory and computer music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. These days he can be found playing fretless guitar, 7-string electric violin, Harmonic Canon I, prepared guitar, electric bass, analog synthesizer, percussion, or singing with various groups - and in various tuning systems - throughout the northeastern United States. Recent collaborators include Jeff Arnal, Arto Artinian, Gordon Beeferman, Katt Hernandez, Brad Kemp, Joe Maneri, Aaron Trant, and Jonathan Vincent. Mr. Wilson has released several recordings, documenting his performances with combinations of the aforementioned artists. He gratefully acknowledges the influences of Harry Partch, Iannis Xenakis, and Joe Maneri. He is also quite fond of the theoretical works of Morris Berman (esp. Reenchantment of the World) and William Sethares (Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale), which "justify much of [his] musical and non-musical babbling."
Wilson is available for performances in the U.S. and abroad. He is also available for studio work, or to provide music for film, dance, or theatre productions.
Adam James Wilson
United States
Web site: www.adamjameswilson.com