Adam James Wilson (strings, composition) New York, NY

An up-and-coming figure in American avant-garde jazz, Adam James Wilson started his young career as a composer before turning resolutely to performance. An advocate of microtonality, he plays a fretless electric guitar, a 7-string electric violin, and a self-built replica of Harry Partch's Harmonic Canon I. Since 2000 he is active on the U.S. Northeastern free improv scene, with ties to New York and Boston. His first album came out in 2002.

Wilson was born in 1975. He studied composition and classical guitar at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio before beginning graduate studies at the University of Illinois, where he also touched on computer music. The academic setting didn't quite fit him, but in Illinois he met flautist Arto Artinian, who became a close friend and collaborator. Leaving school, Wilson moved to Boston where he hooked up with the avant-garde musicians of his generation - in particular, pianist Jonathan Vincent and violinist Katt Hernandez. A friend introduced him to saxophonist Joe Maneri, which led to performances together and a mentor-pupil relationship of sorts. Maneri's influence can be strongly felt in the free improvisations on Unify (Wilson's first record), not only because of the microtonality, but also in the phrasing and the general demeanor of the group as a whole. . .

-François Couture, All Music Guide

Since Unify, Wilson has released several records, including 6000° Kelvin (with Artinian, Tatsuya Nakatani, Antoine Roney, and Vincent), Darker (with Artinian and Hernandez), Zond, a disc of large scale hybrid composition-improvisations developed in collaboration with Artinian, and Live At Spoke-the-Hub (with Jeff Arnal, Arto Artinian, and Gordon Beeferman).