Sam Wilson Groundless Apprehensions release
Sunday, April 7, 6:30pm
1313 Hollis, 1313 Hollis Street
$10
The jazz guitarist Sam Wilson, a St. FX music grad, is just 25 but she moves through music like an old soul. Her favourite guitarists are Americans like the octogenarian Kenny Burrell and the late Michael Hedges and Jim Hall; for folk it's Nick Drake and Bert Jansch. "In high school I listened to Pink Floyd and progressive rock that was already past its time," she says, laughing.
Wilson, who grew up in Winsdor, Ontario, will release her debut album Groundless Apprehensions at 1313 Hollis on April 7. Its nine instrumental songs—Wilson calls her sound post-bop modern jazz—have titles like "Honest Moments," "The Recluse" and "What She Said." "I find writing cathartic—I don't know how it happens, I just use it as a personal tool to get something out without talking about it," she says.
Wilson's live band also made the record with her at the Sonic Temple: Her St. FX prof Paul Tynan on trumpet, fellow student Matt MacLennan on bass, drummer Tom Roach and trombonist Andrew Jackson. "I wanted a mix of people with lots of experience and some younger people," she says. "They're all also really nice people and not jerks."
After a year of writing and arranging—"also my computer crashed in the middle of that and I didn't save any of it"—and rearranging and recording, Wilson is happy to have Groundless Apprehensions out in the world. "I'm also excited because I can move on," she says. "It's been a long process, a long, fun, enjoyable, up-and-down process."
