For his latest project, Ride! Ferris Wheel to the Modern Day Delta, trumpeter Abram Wilson has put together three bands: a New Orleans brass band, a Delta Blues trio and a jazz septet, making a highly unusual ten-piece with Wilson very much at the centre on trumpet, vocals and narration. Like fellow musician Soweto Kinch's concept album that tells the story of characters in a Birmingham tower block, Wilson's Ride! takes the audience on a journey through the life and experiences on the road of a fictional musician. Albert Jenkins is a character with a rapid wired-up delivery, a love of excess and finally a longing to be home in the deep south.

Musically this journey allows Wilson to put his boundless energy and enthusiasm into playing an almost seamless single set of sharp upbeat music, starting with a highly syncopated marching tune that immediately caught the attention of the audience and proved that this is a band that lays down a groove sharp enough to make both Louis Armstrong and Muddy Waters smile.

Although this was essentially a jazz band there was a strong tilt towards the blues and those marching rhythms that characterised the sweet mayhem of Mingus's big bands. On trumpet, Wilson has a full sound and a breadth of phrasing that allowed him to lead the band into every genre with equal ease and to solo with style. His singing has a soft edge raised by his visible commitment and remarkable speed of delivery when in the character of his alter ego, Albert Jenkins. As a band leader, Wilson gave ample space to other members of the band, in particular Errol Linton on harmonica (whom Wilson first heard in the underground). Shaney Forbes, on drums, and Neil Charles, on bass, kept the whole band driving though blues, jazz and even a taste of hip hop.

Though it may not have the sophisticated grit of Soweto Kinch's album, Ride is the sort of music that can raise the spirits of even the hardest cynic and is certainly best experienced live. Nevertheless, the audience flocked to buy a signed CD from the man himself.