On June 23rd, I had the pleasure of attending the showcase of a Rising Star in Hartford, Aja Wilson entitled Young, Wild and Free. Aja is a Hartford native and a 2010 graduate of the Hartt School at the University of Hartford and in the past two years since she's graduated, she's been working hard to create a name for herself in the music scene.
The showcase was held on the stage at the Polish National Home, a beautiful building on Charter Oak Avenue downtown. Aja was accompanied by a full band with a guitar and electric bass, keyboard, trumpet, saxophone and trombone players, as well as two background dancers for the upbeat numbers and an upright bass and piano to back her up on her original songs. The stage was full of light and movement when Aja entered in a sparkly pink and purple outfit. She started her show with a rousing rendition of Runaway Baby, a song originally performed by Bruno Mars, stepping in time with her dancers. She kept that momentum going and followed up with the equally high energy song Tightrope, originally performed by Janelle Monae. This was my first time hearing Aja sing live and she brought it! Her voice is as pretty in person as on the studio recordings that I'd heard on her website, with a rich tone to go along with it. Her set list took us on a musical journey of her favorite songs and artists, singing songs by Michael Jackson, Etta James to a killer version of Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know (creatively arranged by her friend Scott Packham) just to name a few.
I had the opportunity to chat with Aja after her show and we had a wonderful conversation about her career and her ambitions in the local artist scene. Last Fall, she was granted the opportunity to sing at the Langham Place Hotel in Hong Kong for 5 months as their in house musician. After that ended she followed it up performing at a week-long festival in Belize, and once home she and her mother immediately began planning for her showcase to storm onto the Hartford music scene in a big way. It was a bold move, but one that she succeeded at in spades. The place was packed and the crowd was loving the show, hooting and hollering as she belted out our favorite songs.
If you missed this show, don't fret: you'll be seeing much more of Miss Wilson around. Her debut album, Kaleidescope, is now available for purchase and she's going to be "growing the buzz" on herself even more. She has big plans for more shows and outings so stay tuned into her website (www.ajawilson.com) to hear the latest. In a city like Hartford, with such a strong artist community and people ready to support talent, I'm sure she'll have no problem getting that buzz out there.
I'd appreciate if you didn't make a liar out of me and support a local artist!
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