ALEX WILSON: SPECIAL GUEST ON SOUNDS OF THE DIASPORA WITH HOST DION PARSON

Dion is an educator, composer, Grammy Award-winning performer, and bandleader. He currently resides on the island of St. Thomas and serves as the Chair of the Communication and Performing Arts Department at the University of the Virgin Islands. He is also the President of the United Jazz Foundation, which is a music education organization that mentors underprivileged kids to become musicians. His musical career has allowed him to tour internationally for over 30 years, and he has been recorded on over 80 records.

This week's special guest, Alex Wilson Pianist / Arranger / Producer / Composer. Now based in Switzerland, Alex Wilson is one of the foremost keyboard players to come out of the UK. He has travelled to sixty countries appearing with artists as diverse as Wynton Marsalis, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Ernest Ranglin, Marc Anthony, Cheo Feliciano, Jocelyn Brown, Courtney Pine, Hugh Masakela (RIP), Madou Sidiki Diabaté & DJ Snowboy.

His composing & production career is equally diverse writing commissions for Harrogate International Festival (Concerto for Kora & Piano featuring Seckou Keita), Aldeburgh Music and The Royal Opera House and his theatre score for NITRO's The Wedding Dance to his TV music placed on Channel 4, the series '24', CNN, Discovery Channel and the Sandra Bullock film The Proposal. In the autumn of 2017, EMI Production music sent Alex to Havana to compose and produce music in the traditional "Buenavista" style. (watch video here) Latterly he has been producing salsa soul for Nolita Golding.

Creator of the annual London Latin Jazz Fest and with nine solo albums to his name including Mali Latino, which achieved a Top of the World accolade from Songlines magazine, Alex has firmly established himself in the world of Latin Music and beyond.

Alex was born in the UK of mixed English/African parentage and was brought up in the UK, Sierra Leone, Austria and Switzerland.