Jimmy Wilkins (musician)

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Jimmy Wilkins (* 1921 in St. Louis ; † August 24, 2018 ) was an American jazz trombonist and band leader who also worked as a studio musician .

Live and act

Jimmy Wilkins, the younger brother of saxophonist Ernie Wilkins , grew up in St. Louis and played in a high school band, then in his brother's band; During the Second World War he did his military service in a chapel of the Navy. After his release, he returned to St. Louis, worked at Ernie Fields, and then moved to New York City with his brother . He worked in the orchestras of Eddie Mallory and Erskine Hawkins , which gave concerts in the Savoy Ballroom and the Apollo Theater . On his return to St. Louis he played in the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra ; until 1949 he attendedWilberforce College in Ohio . Through the mediation of Clark Terry he was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1951 to 1953 when Basie rebuilt his big band . Wilkins played in the trombone group with Henry Coker and Benny Powell and worked a. a. with Basie's recordings for Clef Records . During this time he also recorded with Willis Jackson and Dizzy Gillespie .

After Wilkins was offered the job of managing director of his uncle's restaurant, he left the basie band. After a year he gave up this post and put together his own big band that lasted 35 years. He worked full-time at the Post Office in Detroit until 1981 . With his band he accompanied u. a. traveling soloists such as Nancy Wilson , Billy Eckstine and Lou Rawls ; the arrangements were made by Ernie Wilkins. In addition, he played in the formation Funk Brothers , the house band of the Motown label and worked a. a. on recordings of The Four Tops , Stevie Wonder , The Temptations , Martha and the Vandellas , Smokey Robinson and Junior Walker . In 1994 he moved to Las Vegas , where he worked again with his own formations, including the Jimmy Wilkins New Life Orchestra , until the end of the 2000s .

There are only a few recordings under his own name, he recorded the single Snatchin It Back / Soft Lights with his orchestra for Pampa Records . Wilkins has also worked on the recordings of Clark Terry, Eddie Lockjaw Davis , Wendell Harrison and Jay McShann . In 2018 he was still active with his Jimmy Wilkins New Life Orchestra , which played in the style of the Count Basie Orchestra.

Discographic notes

  • Count Basie Big Band ( Clef Records , 1952)
  • Air Shots Birdland Vol. 1 (Unique Jazz, 1953)
  • Clark Terry's Big Bad Band Live at the Wichita Jazz Festival 1974
  • The Hastings Street Jazz Experience - Detroit Jazz Composers Ltd. (1976)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Portrait in Las Vegas Sun
  2. ↑ Dear friends, it is with great sadness that I share with you the news of Jimmy's passing. Jimmy Wilkins' Facebook page, August 26, 2018, accessed August 27, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Interview with Marc Myers (2012), part 1
  4. ↑ a b Interview with Marc Myers (2012), part 2
  5. ↑ Count Basie Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography of Count Basie 2002, p. 292
  6. ↑ a b Interview with Marc Myers (2012), part 3
  7. ^ Bill Dahl Motown: The Golden Years 2001, p. 64
  8. ↑ Allmusic
personal data
SURNAME Wilkins, Jimmy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz trombonist and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 2018