Trumpeter Abram Wilson (left) launches his latest album Life Paintings on Saturday at the Purcell Room as part of an autumn tour. He appears with his quartet of pianist Peter Edwards, fast making a name for himself with the group Rhythmica, and Soweto Kinch’s regular bass and drum team, Karl Rasheed-Abel and Graham Godfrey.

The new album, the trumpeter’s third for the Dune label, has 10 tracks opening with the fizzing ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’ characterised by a pulsating hard bop feel. US-born Wilson has become a key part of the UK jazz scene mentoring a new generation of musicians via Tomorrow’s Warriors workshops and jam sessions and by leading his own groups.

He has also branched out into acting and performing in Shakespeare’s As You Like It proved to be an unlikely way of embarking on preparation for the new album. But it wasn’t just the Bard but also Barack Obama who inspired Wilson. One of the album’s key tracks is the fourth track ‘Obama’. Wilson told Robert Shore in October’s Jazzwise: “The song is there to help people remember how excited we were when he was elected. If you listen to it you can hear the rejoicing at the inauguration. Whenever Obama speaks there’s excitement, and when [the music] starts swinging you can hear that too.”

– Stephen Graham

Tour dates including the album launch gig are: Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury (Thursday 22 October); Purcell Room, London (24 October); Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea (31 October); Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton (7 November) and London Jazz Festival, The Albany, London (14 November).