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Alex Wilson
Artist
Switzerland
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Alex Wilson: Pianist, Composer, Arranger, Producer, Educator

As a composer, arranger, performer, and educator, Alex Wilson is a music creator in the world of Latin, world music, and jazz. He has traveled to over fifty countries to perform music in a multitude of projects.

In 1993, after gaining a degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering from the University of York, he embarked on a professional career as a pianist, being snapped up to perform and record with Courtney Pine, Jazz Jamaica, Sandra Cross, Adalberto Santiago, and Jocelyn Brown, quickly being signed to the Candid label.

Of his nine solo albums, his salsa dance albums, Inglaterra, Salsa con Soul, and Salsa Veritas have been worldwide hits on the dance floor, regularly charting on DJ lists and a favorite of salsa dance clubs with his 12-piece salsa band. Tracks from his previous albums, including his salsa hit version of "Ain’t Nobody," continue to spin on the dance floor.

With deep experience in international collaborations and the ability to work in English, Spanish, French, and German, Alex's projects include the Afro-Latin project Mali Latino, commissioned by Aldeburgh Music (Benjamin Britten's music center) and recorded/mixed at Steve Winwood and Peter Gabriel's studios. The project won a 'Top of the World' accolade from Songlines Magazine.

He then went on to mastermind the surprisingly fresh sound of Afro-Cuban bagpiper Wilber Calver's debut album, Diaspora.

His pianistic credentials were definitively stamped on his ninth solo release, Alex Wilson Trio, which distilled the wide musical landscape of his career down to a nucleus of piano, bass, and drums.

He now runs his own record label, Alex Wilson Records, with eight album releases, and a production company, Services for Musicians.

As a composer, arranger, and musical director, Alex's notable works include arranger/musical director for Rodrigo y Gabriela's Area 52 album (which then went on to tour the world), a theater score for NITRO (Britain's leading black theater company), commissions from the Royal Opera House, the groundbreaking Concerto for Kora and Piano commissioned by the Harrogate International Festival, and studio producer for various artists including Edwin Sanz's San Agustin, Gwyn Allen in "I Love Louis – A Creole Tribute to Louis Armstrong," and singer-songwriter Malone.

In the commercial world, Alex writes prolifically for the screen through his production company, Latin Music for TV and Film, with placements on CNN, the US drama series 24, the feature films From Prada to Nada and Sandra Bullock's The Proposal, a solo piano film score for artwork at London's Saatchi Gallery, and a featured track on the Xbox Just Dance 3 game.

Alex is an experienced music educator and is co-author of two books, "Play Violin the Cuban Way" and "Find the Rhythm." He has delivered workshops and masterclasses for young people both internationally, for the British Council in Colombia, Cuba, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, and Israel, as well as in the UK for music colleges such as the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Alex is a Special Lecturer in Music at the University of Nottingham.

Continually in demand as a pianist, recent years have seen Alex accompany Jamaican guitar legend Ernest Ranglin, make two appearances with Wynton Marsalis, and perform with the fantastically unique production "Do You Speak Djembe?"

Alex has curated the Harrogate International Festival, The Compass Suite at Canary Wharf, and currently is the curator for the annual London Latin Jazz Fest, now in its second successful year, which will include a two-piano concert with Alex and Level 42's Mike Lindup.

Alex was born in the UK and was brought up in Britain, briefly in Sierra Leone, followed by Austria and Switzerland, and has also studied in the USA. He now lives in Zürich, Switzerland.
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