Sam Wilson

Sam Wilson is a guitarist-composer whose practice focuses on creating instrumental music for improvisers. Her current artistic muse is wild spaces and site-specific responses, evident by her latest release Wintertides (April 2024), featuring drummer Jen Yakamovich and bassist Geordie Hart. Written in the winter of 2022 on both the east (Scotsburn, NS) and west Coast (at Lena Residency, Galiano Island BC); it’s inspired by contrasting landscapes and the collaboration of bi-coastal communities. Her albums Into a Heart Pt. II and New Doors(Jackson/Wilson Duo) won Music Nova Scotia’s “Jazz Recording of the Year” in 2022 and 2023, respectively. All of her releases have been nominated for the East Coast Music Awards. In 2021 Sam won the Paul Cram Creation award and composed her first piece for orchestra, ‘Recover-we’, which was performed by Symphony Nova Scotia at the 2023 Open Waters Festival.

Sam was raised in Ontario but has made Nova Scotia her home for more than a decade; she currently resides in Halifax. She performs regularly with her collaborator Andrew Jackson in their duo project (Jackson\Wilson Duo), as well with her trio that features a rotation of musicians including Caito Macdonald, Kyle Tully, Gabriella Ciurcovich, Jen Yakamovich and Geordie Hart. She has worked with Phillip Greenlief (Elephant Heart), Andrew Mackelvie, Ellen Gibling, Matt Gallant (Borrowers), Nicholas D’amato, Nicola Miller, Music Declares Emergency, Votive Dance, Upstream Music Association, among others and supported artists such as Laura Roy and Kaia Kater. She is an alumni of St.FX University and the Creative Music Workshop.