Will Vinson

Saxophonist and composer Will Vinson moved from London to New York in 1999 and remained there permanently. Since settling in the city he has become a central figure in its jazz scene and, on occasion, its pop circles, working regularly as a sought-after sideman while also leading groups and releasing recordings under his own name. His sound features a bold, emotionally charged timbre, while his lines combine expressive nuance with broad harmonic reach, concise phrasing, and firm command.

His first album as a leader, It’s for You, appeared in 2004 and featured bassist Thomas Morgan alongside pianist Aaron Parks. Promises followed in 2008 as a digital release, presenting a quintet that again included Parks and added guitarist Lage Lund. The 2010 Criss Cross album Stockholm Syndrome brought wider international attention. In 2013 the widely praised OWL Trio documented his collaboration with Lund and bassist Orlando Le Fleming. Perfectly Out of Place, issued in 2016, blended acoustic and electronic elements in a quintet that included pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba—whose touring and studio ensembles Vinson had previously joined—and the MIVOS Quartet. Its Alright with Three, released on Criss Cross in 2018, captured the initial studio documentation of an ongoing trio completed by drummer Antonio Sanchez and guitarist Gilad Hekselman; the same three musicians issued the self-titled Trio Grande in 2020. That same year Vinson also released Four Forty One, a collection of trios and duets recorded with five different pianists and supporting rhythm sections.

Born in London in 1977, Vinson grew up as a reflective and reserved youngster whose earliest musical contact came through his father’s extensive jazz record collection and piano performances. He bypassed rock and pop in favor of the big-band repertoire of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Piano lessons began at age ten and continued along classical lines for a brief period. During his early teens he studied with Leon Cohen, whose guidance deepened his interest in jazz technique and harmony while exposing him to the electric fusion of Weather Report and Chick Corea’s various ensembles. A Corea concert prompted Vinson to dedicate himself fully to music. Although his knowledge of jazz history initially omitted bebop, West Coast jazz, hard bop, and the modernist contributions of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, he filled those gaps in subsequent years. At fifteen his parents purchased an alto saxophone for him; he pursued the instrument through private instruction and school ensembles. After developing tendonitis that curtailed his piano playing, he concentrated exclusively on alto saxophone, though he later regained sufficient facility to return to piano and synthesizers on occasion.

Vinson relocated to New York City in 1999 to enroll at the Manhattan School of Music, where his fellow students included Aaron Parks, Ambrose Akinmusire, Miguel Zenon, and Jaleel Shaw. His abilities quickly attracted attention, leading to sideman engagements while he was still enrolled. Before departing England he had participated in the Ultrasound Contemporary Jazz Ensemble’s 1999 recording Critical Moments, yet his first proper leader date arrived in 2002 with Down Homeless, credited to the collaborative quartet VNMG that also featured bassist Thomas Morgan, pianist Steve Newcomb, and drummer Peter Gabis. Two years later he issued his own debut, It’s for You, on the British Sirocco Music label; co-produced with Eivind Opsvik, the quartet comprised Parks, Morgan, guitarist Sandra Hempel, and drummer Mark Ferber.

Over the next four years Vinson toured extensively as a sideman, performed his own concerts in New York, and recorded with the Alan Ferber Nonet, vocalist Pamela Luss, guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg, and drummer Ari Hoenig—associations he has maintained with the latter two musicians. In 2008 he issued two digital releases: Greenpoint, a collective project with bassist Matt Penman, guitarist Dan Waldman, and drummer Bruce Fox, named after the Brooklyn neighborhood where he resides, and Promises, which reunited him with Parks, Hoenig, Le Fleming, and Lund. His first pop-session work occurred in 2009 on recordings by Harper Simon and Rufus Wainwright, whose band he later joined for tours of the United States and Europe. Upon returning in 2010 he released the digital album The World (Through My Shoes) with Le Fleming, Lund, and drummer Jochen Rückert; he also participated in Le Fleming’s ensemble, which, with Lund and Sanchez aboard, issued From Brooklyn with Love (Live at Freddy’s).

Stockholm Syndrome, Vinson’s 2010 Criss Cross date, marked a critical breakthrough. Leading a quintet that included Lund, Parks, Le Fleming, and drummer Kendrick Scott, the album alternated original post-bop compositions with reinterpretations of standards by Cole Porter, Paul Desmond, and Bill Evans, establishing him internationally and prompting extensive touring. In late 2012 Vinson, Lund, and Le Fleming formed OWL Trio, whose sole, self-titled album appeared in 2013. Two years afterward, following further trio activity and work with Kreisberg, Vinson joined Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s quintet for the album Charlie and became a member of the pianist’s touring group.

Perfectly Out of Place emerged in 2016 on Whirlwind Recordings. Co-produced with Rubalcaba, the ten originals featured an electro-acoustic quintet comprising pianist Matt Penman (also on synthesizers), guitarist Mike Moreno, and drummer Jeff Ballard in tandem with the MIVOS Quartet. The recording received notice in Tokyo, Moscow, the Netherlands, and London. In 2018 Vinson returned to Criss Cross with It’s Alright with Three, balancing original material and standards in a trio setting with Sanchez and Hekselman; the sessions highlighted the intuitive rapport the three musicians had developed through prior live performances.

Vinson joined the Whirlwind roster in late 2019. Four Forty One, his first release for the label, placed him in varying duo and trio configurations with pianists Rubalcaba, Gerald Clayton, Fred Hersch, Sullivan Fortner, and Tigran Hamasyan, supported by different rhythm sections; the album registered on international jazz streaming charts. In December of that year the trio formerly known as the working unit with Sanchez and Hekselman adopted the name Trio Grande and issued its self-titled debut.