Jazz Articles about Skip Wilkins

About Skip Wilkins

Album Review

Skip Wilkins Quartet feat. Daniel Wilkins: Czech Wishes

Read "Czech Wishes" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
July 23, 2019

Although he's based in Eastern Pennsylvania, where he teaches at Lafayette College, pianist Skip Wilkins spends as much time as he can in the Czech Republic, the source of inspiration for his last two releases. Czech Dreams (New Port Line, 2013) and Czech Wishes, his current project, are not so much about crafting an Eastern European-tinged music, as Wilkins' songwriting stays comfortably within the world of mainstream jazz. He does have an impressive trio of Czech musicians with him on ...

Album Review

Skip Wilkins Quartet: Czech Dreams

Read "Czech Dreams" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
December 28, 2013

World-class jazz pianist Skip Wilkins regularly splits his time between Eastern Pennsylvania--where he teaches at Lafayette College in Easton--and Central Europe where he recently spent fifteen months in Prague. Czech Dreams, dedicated to the Czech people, is a result of touring throughout the Czech Republic and Germany and cementing his relationship with friend and Prague-based guitarist Libor Smoldas who is part of this recording. Recorded at Studio Svarov in the Czech Republic, the album offers a selection of eleven sensitive ...

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Album Review

Skip Wilkins Quintet: The Paint-Peeler

Read "The Paint-Peeler" reviewed by Matthew Warnock

by Matthew Warnock
May 3, 2009

The Paint-Peeler melds together elements of traditional, modern, and free jazz in a mélange of creative energy and expression. Wilkins' compositions and arrangements are full of emotion and intellectual fervor, while his improvisations are first-rate and are constantly being enhanced by the rest of the ensemble. The quintet, consisting of Paul Kendall on saxophones, Tom Kozic on guitar, Tony Marino on bass, and Gary Rissmiller on drums, moves between '60s avant-garde free-improvisation and '50s style swing in a manner that ...

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Album Review

Skip Wilkins: Skip Wilkins Quintet, Vol. I

Read "Skip Wilkins Quintet, Vol. I" reviewed by Tom Greenland

by Tom Greenland
March 1, 2007

Pianist/composer/bandleader Skip Wilkins is a talented musician working out of Eastern Pennsylvania, where he teaches at the Williams Center of the Arts in Easton in addition to making gigs in Philadelphia, the Poconos and New York City. He's recorded several albums with flutist Jill Allen and has compiled, over the years, an impressive catalog of original compositions, now available on Quintet, Vol. 1, soon to be followed by a companion volume. Culled from three separate concerts given ...