Jazz Articles about Jack Wilkins

Jack Wilkins: Playing What He's Preaching

by Rob Rosenblum
December 29, 2016

Some time in 1975 a box of records from the Mainstream label was dropped by my front door. I picked it up and began to open it with a mix of excitement and dread of having to face writing more record reviews. I saw an LP titled Windows with an unfamiliar cast of characters and put it aside. I had too many other albums to listen to and render judgment. Despite a nagging sense of obligation, this piece of vinyl ...

Jack Wilkins: Until It's Time

by Jim Santella
August 27, 2009

A guitarist with the kind of dexterity that Jack Wilkins shares is bound to find success in many fields, especially when based in New York, where he's surrounded by great musicians all the time. As Until It's Time features piano, bass and drums in support of Wilkins' sensual fret board articulation, much of the album relies on familiar songs and a conservative love affair with melody.Wilkins works in unison with piano, stretches out frequently, and turns his musical ...

Jack Wilkins: Dear Old Stockholm

by Jack Bowers
March 1, 2008

This agreeable studio date, inspired by tenor saxophonist Jack Wilkins' experiences while visiting Sweden, was recorded in Stockholm with a group of splendid Swedish musicians, two of whom--pianist Per Danielsson and his wife, alto saxophonist Tamara--are fellow teachers with Wilkins at the University of South Florida in Tampa. To bolster the front line, Wilkins chose one of Sweden's finest, trumpeter Jan Allan, and enlisted bassist Hans Backenroth and drummer Johan Lofqrantz Ramsay to round out the rhythm section.

While a ...

Just Jazz Guitar Articles

by Rob Smeets
December 18, 2004

Jack Wilkins Just Jazz Guitar Articles Mel Bay Publications ISBN: 0-78-667221-8 2004

Since Jack Wilkins' release of Windows in in 1973, Wilkins has been a mainstay in the jazz guitar scene. Currently an instructor at the New School and at the Manhattan School of Music, Wilkins is known for his incredible technique and refreshing ideas in the realm of jazz guitar. The book is called Just Jazz Guitar Articles published by Mel ...

Jack Wilkins: Ridge Lines

by Eric J. Iannelli
November 16, 2004

" Ridge Lines ," read the album's liner notes, “is Jack's second CD release, following Artwork , which was well received by critics, jazz radio stations, and a few normal people." This is a double loss--for the critics, who secretly crave the acceptance of the public while professing indifference, and the majority of “normal" folks, who are missing out on some fantastic hard bop and swing.Wilkins has assembled a fine ensemble for his second outing, most noteworthy among ...

Jack Wilkins: Ridge Lines

by Jack Bowers
May 1, 2002

A pity that musicians this talented have to produce their own albums, even though this one by tenor saxphonist Jack Wilkins and his companions was made possible in part by a Research and Creative Scholarship award from the University of South Florida where he is a member of the Music School’s faculty, as, I presume, is almost everyone else on the date (trumpeter Scott Wendholt, busy on the New York scene, may be an exception). Wilkins, who wrote four of ...

Jack Wilkins: Reunion

by Bill Donaldson
August 1, 2001

Reunion is just that.And for jazz listeners who missed Jack Wilkins' outstanding 1977 release, Merge, the first time out, or for those who are too young to remember it, Reunion brings back that group for a brief moment in time.It wasn't easy. Schedules conflicted and everyone was busy, but they found a slot when they could record. Try as they might, Wilkins and the producer weren't able to pin down saxophonist Michael Brecker for more than ...