Ernie Wilkins

Ernie Wilkins 1976

Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. (born July 20, 1919 in St. Louis , Missouri , USA , † June 5, 1999 in Copenhagen , Denmark ) was an American saxophonist, composer and band leader of modern jazz . He was awarded the Ben Webster Prize .

Live and act

Wilkins learned to play the violin and piano as a child before switching to the saxophone. He studied music at Wilberforce University in Ohio and played in a band under Willie Smith while serving in the US Navy . His first professional engagements with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra and George Hudson before 1948 Member of Earl Hines ' band was.

In 1951 he became (together with his younger brother Jimmy Wilkins ) on the recommendation of Clark Terry a member of Count Basies Band, for which he worked as an arranger and composer. Among other things, he edited the One O'Clock Jump and Every Day I Have The Blues for her . In 1955 he separated from Basie to work as a composer and saxophonist in Dizzy Gillespie's band. In 1956 he worked for Big Joe Turner ( Boss of the Blues ) ; from 1958 to 1960 he worked with Harry James' band .

In the 1960s, Wilkins' career stalled because of drug problems. He returned to the music scene in the late 1960s as the musical director of Clark Terry's Big BAD Band . In 1975 he composed the choral suite Four Black Immortals , which was performed in New York's Town Hall and Avery Fisher Hall . In the late 1970s he toured Europe with Clark Terry.

In 1980 Wilkins decided to go all the way to Europe and settled in Copenhagen . There he founded the Ernie Wilkins' Almost Big Band , with which he recorded four albums. He also worked with the DR Big Band , with whom he toured Great Britain in 1991 and recorded the Suite for Jazz Band album , and with musicians such as Earl Hines , Sonny Rollins , Milt Jackson , Sarah Vaughn , Lena Horne and Quincy Jones . After a stroke, he withdrew from the music business.

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Year of birth according to Leonard Feather & Ira Gitler , The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz . Oxford / New York, 1999, ISBN 978-0-19-532000-8 and the LA Times obituary; deviating from this, Ian Carr et al. a. Jazz Rough Guide Stuttgart 1999; ISBN 3-476-01584-X , Reclam's jazz guide and the obituary in The Scotsman 1922 as the year of birth. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz , 1988, 1994, Jörgensen, Wiedemann Jazzlexikon , Bertelsmann, Leonard Feather Encyclopedia of Jazz , 1960 indicate July 20, 1922.

personal data
SURNAME	Wilkins, Ernie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Wilkins, Ernest Brooks Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American saxophonist, composer and band leader of modern jazz
DATE OF BIRTH	July 20, 1919 or July 20, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH	St. Louis , Missouri , United States
DATE OF DEATH	June 5, 1999
Place of death	Copenhagen , Denmark

[1] Year of birth according to Leonard Feather & Ira Gitler , The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz . Oxford / New York, 1999, ISBN 978-0-19-532000-8 and the LA Times obituary; deviating from this, Ian Carr et al. a. Jazz Rough Guide Stuttgart 1999; ISBN 3-476-01584-X , Reclam's jazz guide and the obituary in The Scotsman 1922 as the year of birth. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz , 1988, 1994, Jörgensen, Wiedemann Jazzlexikon , Bertelsmann, Leonard Feather Encyclopedia of Jazz , 1960 indicate July 20, 1922.