LEROY JENKINS
ABOUT THE ARTIST/BIOGRAPHY
(1932-2007) was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was already performing on violin at the age of 8 at his local Baptist Church. He studied music in high school and then attended Florida A&M University where he completed his B.S. in music. Jenkins returned to Chicago in 1965 and was drawn into the well spring of Chicago's creative music activities. Almost immediately, he joined the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM). Jenkins recalls that this union marked the first time that as a violin player he was truly welcomed into creative music performances. During this time he played and recorded with Muhal Richard Abrams, Leo Smith and Anthony Braxton. In 1969, Jenkins left for Paris with Braxton and Smith. With the addition of drummer Steve McCall, they formed the Creative Construction Company. Their 1970 performance in New York, joined by Richard Davis on bass and Abrams on piano, gave New York the first taste of the new music that Chicago musicians were creating. Jenkins continued to work with the finest creative musicians: Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, Alice Coltrane, Mtume, and Cal Massey, to name a few. But it was the work of the collective Revolutionary Ensemble (co-founded with bassist Sirone and drummer Jerome Cooper) that gained Jenkins prominence as the most significant violinist of the modern era. Back to Artists
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REVOLUTIONARY ENSEMBLE / Counterparts"They morph seamlessly into lengthy, imaginatively conceived improvs, wherein the band's gift for spontaneous composition is given free rein." - Chris Kelsey, Jazz Times
Counterparts is a document of the last live performance by the legendary Revolutionary Ensemble. This recording was made of a performance in Genoa, Italy on November 25, 2005.
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REVOLUTIONARY ENSEMBLE / Beyond the Boundary of TimeBeyond the Boundary of Time documents one of the last live performances of the legendary Revolutionary Ensemble before Leroy Jenkins¹s death in 2007. This recording was made of a performance on May 25, 2005 in Warsaw, Poland.
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LEROY JENKINS' DRIFTWOOD / The Art of Improvisation"Individually the four players are marvelous; collectively they are something special. This is a beautiful work." - Chris Kelsey, Jazz Times
Jenkins was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1932; he died in Brooklyn, 2007. He was already performing on violin at the age of 8 at his local Baptist Church. He studied music in high school and then attended Florida A&M University where he completed his B.S. in music.
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REVOLUTIONARY ENSEMBLE / The PsycheIn 1970 the idea of revolution was everywhere - the raging war in VietNam, the desperate antiwar protests that erupted, the ongoing civil rights revolution, and the jazz revolution. In New York City, the center of the jazz world, the free jazz scene - "outside" jazz, underground jazz, the avant garde - was highly active. |