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Jack Wilkins

Guitarist Jack Wilkins has been on the International jazz scene since the early 1970's. His flawless technique and imaginative chordal approach have inspired collaborations with Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Bob Brookmeyer, and Buddy Rich among many others. A native of Brooklyn, Jack began playing guitar at age thirteen. His mentors included Johnny Smith, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Bill Evans, Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard.

“Windows”, his first album as a leader (Mainstream, 1973,) also available in transcription published by Hal Leonard Publications has been critically acclaimed as a dazzling, seminal guitar trio work.
Which had now been re-issued on Vinyl. "Wewantsounds" label

Later recordings, “Merge”, “Mexico”, “Call Him Reckless”, “Alien Army”, “Keep in Touch”, and “Trioart”, feature the Brecker Brothers, Eddie Gomez, Jack De Johnette, Al Foster, Phil Woods, Kenny Drew, Jr., and many others. Project G7, a two CD set tribute to Wes Montgomery, features Kenny Burrell among others.

In recent years, Jack has played many international festivals with jazz greats Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Heath, The Mingus Epitaph, 5 Guitars play Mingus, Red Rodney, Ira Sullivan, Johnny Griffin and others.

A consummate accompanist, Wilkins has played and recorded with renowned singers Mel Torme, Ray Charles, Morgana King, Sarah Vaughan, Sammy Davis Jr, Tony Bennett, Manhattan Transfer, Nancy Marano, Chris Conner, Cassandra Wilson, and Jay Clayton. Wilkins was awarded an NEA grant in recognition of his work and contribution to the guitar. He has been widely and prominently profiled in such publications as Guitar Player, Just Jazz Guitar, Downbeat, 20th Century Guitar and Leonard Feather’s Jazz Encyclopedia. Jack was invited to the Smithsonian Institution as part of the Blue Guitars exhibit, and appeared on the P.S. I. first live jazz Internet concert. He was also featured on the J.V.C. festival tributes to Johnny Smith, Tal Farlow, Herb Ellis, and Barney Kessel

Wilkins teaches at The New School, Manhattan School of Music, NYU, and LIU. He was invited to judge the Monk Institute Guitar Competitions in Washington. He also conducts seminars on the “Great American Songbook”, and guitar clinics, both in New York and abroad. His latest CD's, "Reunion", “Christmas Jazz Guitar” the DVD”s, “The Benedetto Players in Concert”, “The Benedetto Players and Guild Jazz Masters”, and “Jazz Guitar Workshop” are all currently available. A new CD is now available called “Until It’s Time” on the Maxjazz label.
 


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The Jazz Life

My 'Other' Brother -- Remembering Jack Wilkins: 1944-2023

Read "My 'Other' Brother -- Remembering Jack Wilkins: 1944-2023" reviewed by Peter Rubie


Prologue This piece, in a shorter form, appeared as a post on my Facebook page a few days after my friend Jack Wilkins died on May 5, 2023. On behalf of a group of close friends I also helped write a remembrance piece for WBGO, one or two quotes of which are also included here. I thought that was it. I had written out my grief, certainly in terms of public displays anyway. Then we discovered that the ...

Extended Analysis

The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony

Read "The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


Che trionfo per Julius Hemphill! A dispetto delle poche pagine--o righe--che le recenti storie del jazz dedicano al maestro di Fort Worth, Hemphill emerge da questo cofanetto di inediti come sassofonista-improvvisatore-compositore tra i più profondi della musica afroamericana nei decenni compresi tra gli anni '70 e '90. E questa preziosa edizione non solo torna a far luce su repertori e organici già conosciuti dai cultori, ma porta in superficie una gran mole di musica fresca, sorprendente, che ...

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Album Review

Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony

Read "The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony" reviewed by Mark Corroto


There is something inherently objectionable when a billionaire acquires an artistic masterpiece by say, Leonardo DaVinci or Claude Monet, only to sequester it from public view. You might feel the same about Julius Hemphill's recordings Dogon A.D. (Mbari, 1972) and 'Coon Bid'ness (Arista/Freedom, 1975). Both five star recordings, now out of print, cost a small fortune to acquire. Years ago saxophonist Tim Berne, a disciple of Hemphill, endeavored to rescue the saxophonist's Blue Boyé (Mbari, 1977) by rereleasing it in ...

3
Album Review

Tony Adamo: Was Out Jazz Zone Mad

Read "Was Out Jazz Zone Mad" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


The translation of “Adam" from Hebrew--from which the surname Adamo springs--means from the “ground" or “soil." It also derives from the Hebrew word for red, a la “red clay." Perhaps that is why any work from Tony Adamo is rare earth--gritty, and flaming crimson. Was Out Jazz Zone Mad Adamo's latest, his first for Ropeadope, is all of those things and more.Adamo is the Heavyweight Champion of “hipspokenword," wherein lingo meets vocalizing at the corner of jazz and ...

5
Album Review

Tony Adamo: Was Out Jazz Zone Mad

Read "Was Out Jazz Zone Mad" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Some African cultures preserved their history not by the written but by the spoken word, kept by oral cultural historians known as griots. On Was Out Jazz Zone Mad, vocalist Tony Adamo aspires to serve in this same role, as a verbal historian of both official and unofficial African-American jazz and blues culture. This type of jazz jive might wear quickly thin but Adamo writes about jazz and jazz musicians with such detailed intimacy and vision that his words snap, ...

8
The Jazz Life

Scenes From The Life Of A Young Jazz Musician

Read "Scenes From The Life Of A Young Jazz Musician" reviewed by Jack Wilkins


Foreword Jack Wilkins is an iconic jazz guitarists of the 1970s who is still playing his ass off today, after a career leading and accompanying a host of groups with musicians such as Stan Getz, Buddy Rich, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy McGriff, Zoot Sims, Sonny Stitt, Eddie Gomez, Jack DeJohnette, Phil Woods, and the Brecker Brothers to mention just a handful. One thing about Jack that many people don't know was that as young musician he also played vibes ...

9
Album Review

Jack Wilkins: Windows

Read "Windows" reviewed by Chris May


Guitarist Jack Wilkins' debut on producer Bob Shad's Mainstream label lay gathering dust for almost forty-five years before being reissued on CD by Solid Records in 2017. That disc, and now WeWantSounds' 2018 vinyl edition, have restored to general circulation an album that can be filed alongside such mid-twentieth century jazz-guitar gems as Johnny Smith's Moonlight In Vermont (Roost, 1956), Wes Montgomery's Incredible Jazz Guitar (Riverside, 1960) and Grant Green's Idle Moments (Blue Note, 1964), from each of which Windows ...

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Crowdfunding Campaign

Jack Wilkins, famed guitarist, home again after second visit to hospital in a year

Jack Wilkins, famed guitarist, home again after second visit to hospital in a year

Source: All About Jazz

Four years ago, legendary jazz guitarist Jack Wilkins, 78, found out he had stage four kidney disease and has been quietly dealing with that since. Despite surviving Covid-19 without catching it, in late 2021 he took a pain pill for recent dental work, stood up too suddenly, and found himself on the floor of his kitchen. A day later he was in the hospital with a broken hip. There followed months of rehab, but he bounced back. Then in late ...

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Recording

Maxjazz Releasing New CD from Guitarist Jack Wilkins

Maxjazz Releasing New CD from Guitarist Jack Wilkins

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

The St. Louis-based independent label MAXJAZZ is releasing a new CD by guitarist Jack Wilkins on Tuesday, June 16.Until It's Time is Wilkins' debut for MAXJAZZ, and features the veteran guitarist with pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Mark Farber in a program of 12 songs penned by a diverse group of composers ranging from Sonny Rollins to James Taylor to Ludwig Van Beethoven.You can see MAXJAZZ's promotional “e-card" for the release with some ...

137

Performance / Tour

Cornelia Street Cafe Valentine's Day Special Menu + Jay Clayton, vocals; Jack Wilkins, guitar in the Cabaret Space Tuesday, February 14th

Cornelia Street Cafe Valentine's Day Special Menu + Jay Clayton, vocals; Jack Wilkins, guitar in the Cabaret Space Tuesday, February 14th

Source: All About Jazz

CORNELIA STREET CAFE VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL OUR VOLUPTUOUS 5-COURSE VALENTINE'S DINNER $50 (See website for menu) AND IN THE CABARET THE FABULOUS JAY CLAYTON SINGS OF LOVE (Jay Clayton, vocals; Jack Wilkins, guitar) SHOWS: 8:30 & 10 Jay Clayton is an internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer, and educator, whose work boldly spans the terrain between jazz and new music. She has appeared alongside such formidable artists as Muhal Richard Abrams, Julian Priester, George ...

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Magic Light

Origin Records
2024

buy

The Boyé...

New World Records
2021

buy

Windows

WEWANTSOUNDS
2018

buy

Windows

WEWANTSOUNDS
2018

buy

Was Out Jazz Zone Mad

Ropeadope Records
2018

buy

Everyday Hero

From: For The Dreamers
By Jack Wilkins

We Rise

From: Magic Light
By Jack Wilkins

O Come, All Ye Faithful

From: Christmas Jazz Guitar
By Jack Wilkins

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