Abram Wilson - Telegraph He was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas, on August 30 1973, and brought up in New Orleans, where his father was an amateur guitarist and his mother played the clarinet. Introduced to jazz as a small child, by his cousins, he began playing trumpet at the age of nine. He studied at the New Orleans Centre for Creative Arts before going on to Ohio Wesleyan University to graduate in Music Education. Later he attended the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, where he took a Master's degree in Performance and Composition. Afterwards, in New York, he led his own quintet and was a regular member of the Roy Hargrove Big Band. He made his recording debut in 1999, with Ruth Brown, the rhythm and blues singer. In 2002 Wilson hatched a plan to seek out Quincy Jones, who was then living in Paris, and ask his help and advice. His flight entailed a stopover in London and en route he struck up a conversation with a fellow passenger, who turned out to be a jazz lover and who provided him with a list of London clubs to visit. Pitching up with his horn, he soon found himself sitting in on some sessions: "I got opportunities to play - and it just went on from there." He never did get to Paris. Soon after his arrival he was playing with the big band led by the pianist Julian Joseph, and via this came into the orbit of the remarkable Dune record label. More a British jazz institution than a mere record company, Dune was the home of such artists as Soweto Kinch, Denys Baptiste and Jazz Jamaica. Abram Wilson was soon signed up as one of their number. He spent much of 2004 teaching music in a London secondary school, while preparing his debut album, Jazz Warrior. It was released in October of that year to great critical acclaim. In 2004 his band was nominated in the "Best Band" category of the BBC Jazz Awards (now discontinued), and also named "Best Jazz Act" in the MOBO Awards. The Cheltenham Jazz Festival commissioned Wilson to produce an ambitious work, Ride! Ferris Wheel to the Modern Day Delta, in 2006. This was followed by Life Paintings in 2009. He also took part in a gospel music project, "Roll, Jordan, Roll!," with the singer Nicky Brown. Before his death he had been busy on a new work based on the life of the American concert pianist Philippa Schuyler, who had been a child prodigy but, being of mixed race, met with little success. She later turned to journalism and died in a helicopter crash in Vietnam. Although the fact had not been made public, Wilson had been suffering from cancer for some time. He had recently led his band on a tour whose itinerary took him from Co Durham to Devon, and given numerous additional shows for school pupils. In April this year one critic compared him to Wynton Marsalis and looked forward to a career that would be "fascinating to follow." Instead, Abram's final message on Facebook apologised for having to cancel some concerts because he had "not been feeling very well." He is survived by his wife, Jennie (née Cashman), whom he married on the day before he died. Abram Wilson, born August 30 1973, died June 6 2012