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In Memoriam: Leroy Jenkins 1932-2007
By- JOSEPH JARMAN, MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST
Leroy Jenkins was the first person I ever heard improvise on the violin....it was the mid '70s and it was at some church in the village...he started with a little motif, just a germ of an idea, and kept hacking away at it, from different angles, extending, compressing...he really took the audience on an amazing journey...it was not what I expected, but I think it hit me and made a real impression. I had never heard anyone play the violin from that place. Years later I played a gig in Maine with him and Claude Williams -that was a trip...! -three very different approaches to the ax. Just a few years ago I was playing Bach with a friend in a park near 6th Avenue...Leroy stopped by and listened for a while...we talked a bit -he was always so gracious. What a strong internal compass he must have had, to stay true to his sense of how to play. He will be missed, but his effect on violin players will last. - MATT GLASER, CHAIR, STRING DEPARTMENT, BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC
- JOHN BLAKE JR., VIOLINIST
He was one of the most advanced composers and improvisers in jazz and contemporary music. I recall playing with him at a concert in the late '90s in Philadelphia at the Ethical Society. His compositions went way beyond the comfortable intervals for piano. It opened my ears because he had done something that was new and advanced. It was just a bit out of the grasp of current "avant-garde . He played 8-bar and 16-bar phrases, patterns that we call traditional phrasing in Western Music. Harmonies within those phrases, however, were so different that it was like he was deliberately anti-Western in his tonality. The composition became an international blend of his life experience. I heard Mid-and Far-Eastern, African and South American rhyme; he covered traditional sound of European and American violin. His violin has a quiet gentle voice. His accuracy and sensitivity -phenomenal. I was looking forward to the next opportunity to perform with him. I miss him. - DAVE BURRELL, PIANIST
- WADADA LEO MITH, TRUMPETER
Master composer/violinist Leroy Jenkins was a quirky little guy, always making you laugh. His compositions and violin improvisations contained that same brilliant quirkiness. I recall the wonderful duo we had in the early to mid '80s. His energetic performances and creative compositions have continued to inspire me. It's difficult to conceive that I won't be able to see, call, laugh or play with Leroy again. He was a great musician and a great friend. Fortunately, he left us with all of his wonderful music. We/I will miss him dearly... Much love to Leroy Jenkins. - OLIVER LAKE, SAXOPHONIST
- MIN XIAO-FEN, PIPA PLAYER
Leroy and I go back quite a ways. When I came to New York in 1974, I knew no one and no one knew me. He was the first musician with whom I came into contact and he welcomed me with open arms, giving me my first concert in the city, my first recording date and many subsequent gigs and tours. He introduced me to his illustrious colleagues, which led to more work. He performed on my first recording as a leader. He demonstrated the importance of expressing one's self as a composer. He hooked me up with my apartment on Bedford Street, which was directly over his. Given this proximity, we naturally became very close. In short, no one was more helpful to me than Leroy. There are probably ways in which he helped me that I am not aware of. Leroy was a very open, gifted, inquisitive, robust, giving and friendly man. He had his own sound, his own ideas and his own message/ statement which he conveyed so eloquently each time he picked up his violin or his pencil. I, along with all those who came into contact with him, have been most privileged and blessed to have shared this space and time with Leroy. He remains inspirational. To you and to your memory, beloved one -peace-love-music-light. - JAMES EMERY, GUITARIST
- DENMAN MARONEY, PIANIST
The first time I heard Leroy perform, I was a young college student and had just begun studying jazz. I had never heard anything like his music before and had no idea what he was doing, but something inside me recognized it and the light went on. This was what I wanted to do with my life -find my own way of playing the piano, my own way of composing and improvising. Leroy was a musical shaman transmitting his masterful attainment of oneness with music, igniting my longing for such union. Since then, Leroy's music and friendship have never ceased to guide, inspire and encourage me. With love and gratitude -Thank you, Leroy! - MYRA MELFORD, PIANIST
- HENRY THREADGILL, SAXOPHONIST/FLUTIST
Leroy Jenkins always seemed to be everywhere at once. He had already invented the postmodern conception of the violin, but he didn't stop there. He created operas, ballets, electronic music, video -you name it. For me, the mobile, ecstatic Leroy, conducting with arms akimbo, never to be held down, comes directly out of the Great Migration, when his great-uncle Buck hopped a freight train headed for Chicago. Buck sent for Leroy's dad, who married the boss's niece and, in 1932, the major improvising violinist of the 20th Century was born, soon to be playing his violin in church with Miss Ruth Jones, later known as Dinah Washington. Now that's mobility, right there. - GEORGE LEWIS, TROMBONIST
- BILLY BANG, VIOLINIST
I remember, as a 19 year old, going to Leroy Jenkins' solo concert at the Judson Church in the late '70s. A current of gleeful anticipation pulsed throughout the capacity crowd. I was so excited to hear him play live and he was awesome. Leroy Jenkins not only revealed the untapped possibilities of the violin, but also, the unrealized potentials of our individualism. Leroy was an inspiration. His music helped us become who we could be, through both sound and soul. I am so grateful for his music and his encouragement to me, from the very beginning. Thank you Leroy! - JASON KAO HWANG, VIOLINIST
-RASHIED ALI, DRUMMER
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