Groundwork Out Now
Three years after the release of her APRA best jazz composition award-winning debut album, What Dreams May Come, Wellington, New Zealand-based composer, woodwind player, and session musician Louisa Williamson returns with her sophomore release, Groundwork.
Closer to a prelude than a second album, Groundwork collects eight pieces Williamson wrote and composed between 2016 and 2024 while she was finding her place within New Zealand’s contemporary jazz, soul, funk, and popular music communities.
In Tune - featuring MA
Released February 14th 2025
‘In Tune’ is the first single from the Wellington saxophonist, composer and band leader Louisa Williamson’s second album, Groundwork. Beginning with a flurry of woodwinds, piano and explosive rhythms, ‘In Tune’ unfolds into a regal backdrop for songwriter and vocalist MĀ to combine neo-soul tones with hip-hop cadences while singing in a languid, unhurried manner about coexistence, connection, and the intricacies that lie between.
Over the last thirty-three years, several generations of New Zealand musicians and rappers—including Freebase, Nathan Haines, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Opensouls, and Avantdale Bowling Club—have explored the possibilities and potential of the Venn diagram overlap between jazz and hip-hop in the Antipodes. With ‘In Tune’, Williamson and MĀ draw from this ongoing, ever-flowering tradition while adding their distinct musical voices to its milieu.
The Chasm Where We Fall Into Each Other
Wellington Jazz Festival 2024, Fringe Festival 2025
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME - RELEASED JUNE 2022
“What Dreams May Come” is the much anticipated first album by composer and saxophonist Louisa Williamson. A hybrid of ambient music, modern big band jazz and classical, this music shapes its own world. The album consists of four movements, through-composed, played by a seventeen-piece ensemble.
From the initial conceptual ideas to it’s finished product, the goal has been to create music to relax and dream to.
“As a musician, my role within the wider community has become clearer throughout the pandemic. I feel a responsibility to create and interpret beauty out of tragedy, and reflect the times we are living in.” Williamson says.
“For me, during these troubled times (on my end being outside of New Zealand), it was an escape into a musical landscape. I am grateful to know that composers like Ms. Williamson continue to pursue their education in jazz composition in a thorough way and gives me tremendous hope into its future."
— Ayn Instero, Associate Professor or Jazz Composition at Berklee
“Promises to be an astonishing debut.”
— Lucien Johnson
About Louisa
Louisa Williamson is based in Pōneke (Wellington), Aotearoa (New Zealand). She has performed live and recorded with L.A.B., Trinity Roots, Dawn Diver, Bret McKenzie Band, AJA, MĀ, Rob Ruha, Clear Path Ensemble, The Rodger Fox Big Band, Other Futures Big Band, Lord Echo and Louis Baker.
Louisa studied at New Zealand School of Music (Victoria University) from 2015-2020, completing a Bachelor of Music majoring in Jazz Performance (First Class Honours), and a Master of Music (Composition).
Louisa teaches improvisation, saxophone and ensemble class at New Zealand School of Music (Victoria University).
As well as being a regular gigging and session musician, Louisa fronts her own group playing her own original compositions. “What Dreams May Come” is Louisa’s first release, and she has plans to release a quintet album of more compositions in 2024.
