The creative piano of Lenny Wilson is the result of many years of performing as a professional musician in a wide variety of venues which include night clubs, supper clubs, concerts and recording studios. He has appeared on television and radio as well. He began his professional career at the young age of 15 years. He has performed with big band and groups. Most of the groups were under his leadership.

Wilson's Formative Years

You have to go back to Kentucky and Ohio for some of Lenny's beginnings. Originally, he played accordion and appeared with The Four Flats & A Spare. Later Lenny shifted to piano and his territory broadened to Chicago and Cincinnati. He attended the Cincinnati Conservatory and about this time did a guest spot on a local TV show with a studio band that included a bass player with whom he would later reunite in The Villages--Dick Garrett.

In 1993 a close friend encouraged Lenny to play at the Sarasota Jazz Club. This resulted in repeat performances and the decision to leave the cold and ice country for Sarasota. While Lenny found he could play what he wanted, he also enjoyed an afternoon Sidewalk Jam in downtown Sarasota playing straight-ahead jazz with a number of skilled musicians. Lenny's marriage in 1994 lead to a decision to move to the Ocala area with his wife Sandy.

For the past 15 years, Lenny has appeared most frequently in The Villages in Florida.

Embracing the jazz scene with a feeling and spirit reminiscent of the torch singers of years gone by, award winning jazz vocalist Janice Bruce-Swartz hails from Washington, DC. A protégé of acclaimed jazz vocal stylist, Ronnie Wells, she began her jazz career in 1993, after winning a scholarship in the Emerging Artist Competition at the East Coast Jazz Festival. From '93 to '99, she performed extensively in Washington's jazz clubs and hotels, appearing numerous times in one of the city's premier jazz establishments, "One Step Down". Janice has worked with some of the best instrumental artists in the DC/NY/Philadelphia area, including pianists Ron and Timo Elliston; saxophonist, Buck Hill; and renowned bassists Keter Betts, James King, Paul Langosch, and Buster Williams. Janice pursued her jazz career while serving as a senior diplomatic officer in the American Embassies in Haiti and Ghana. Her travels to more than 45 countries allowed her to share her love of America's art form, jazz, with local musicians and jazz aficionados. Now retired from the diplomatic corps, Janice makes her home in The Villages, Florida and is the featured vocalist with the Lenny Wilson Quartet.

Visit Lenny Wilson's website at:          www.lennywilsonquartet.com/Lenny_Wilson.html
and listen to his music on youtube:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu7TKj-CBco&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLvThb5IYKs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=UWEgg1pNdOI

2-5-2019:  650 happy concertgoers heard the Lenny Wilson Trio with Janice Swartz at Hope Lutheran (credit: Jim Redding)
2-22-2017 Lenny Wilson		2-22-2017 Janice Swartz Sings with the Lenny WilsonTrio