Anthony Wilson is a veteran jazz guitarist and composer who doesn’t shy away from exploring those genres that border with jazz, and in the case of his latest album Collodion includes electronic sounds often associated both with ambient and post-rock, with quite heft doses of experimentation.
Actually, that veteran tag is not simply attached to Wilson’s name, as he is the son of groundbreaking big band composer Gerald Wilson (1918-2014). His catalog of acclaimed work as a leader goes back to the mid-’90s, to say nothing of his extensive credits with Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Ron Carter, Charles Lloyd’s Ocean Trio, Leon Russell, Mose Allison, Terri Lyne Carrington, Willie Nelson, Bobby Hutcherson, Al Jarreau and many more. In 2016, he ventured beyond instrumental music with Frogtown and again two years later with Songs and Photographs: he showcased himself as a singer, interpreting his own lyrics and songs.
With such an artistic resume, it is then no surprise that Wilson ventures into other musical fields here besides jazz, where along the electronics and ambient trips, Wilson includes elements like Gamelan strips, all to create music that is at the same time both experimental and utterly listenable.
Besides his stellar guitar playing, Wilson proves his equal adeptness at the piano, but what truly shines here is his compositional capabilities and inventiveness that make Collodion such a great listening experience.
