Ernie Wilkins
A fine, slippery bop tenor sax player, and a creator of sharp-edged arrangements for bop and swing big bands who helped define the Count Basie Mk. II style of the 1950s, Ernie Wilkins had been a regular fixture on the American jazz scene until 1979, when he pulled up stakes and moved to Europe. He first learned piano and violin, then studied music at Wilberforce University before going into the Navy during the war. He caught on with the Earl Hines band in 1948 and worked around the St. Louis area before joining the Basie band in 1952. He remained in the Basie fold until 1955, but continued to freelance arrangements to the Count, as well as arrange for and perform with the Dizzy Gillespie band that toured the Middle East and South America in 1956. Also in 1956, he wrote three of the six movements of the exciting Wilkins/Manny Albam The Drum Suite (RCA Victor) -- reputedly the first time anyone had tried to integrate four drummers into one band -- and led big band albums under his own name for Savoy and Everest in the 1950s. He was the staff composer for the Harry James orchestra from 1958 to 1960 and served as musical director for albums by Nat Adderley, Sarah Vaughan, Buddy Rich, Oscar Peterson, and Dinah Washington, among others. In 1968, he joined Clark Terry's Big B-A-D Band, serving as a composer and music director, after which he assembled his own band and became head of A&R for the Mainstream label (1971-1973). He would continue to provide Basie with arrangements and toured Europe with Terry in the late '70s, ultimately settling in Copenhagen in 1979, where he formed the Almost Big Band. Most of the recorded examples of Wilkins' work on sax are as a sideman with Basie and Terry.
© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo
Discographie
13 album(s) • Trié par Meilleures ventes
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Sam Jones Cello & Bass. The Soul Society + the Chant + Down Home
Jazz - Paru chez Fresh Sound Records le 24 avr. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Everest Years: Ernie Wilkins
Jazz - Paru chez Legacy International le 1 août 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Here Comes the Swingin' Mr. Wilkins!
Jazz - Paru chez Legacy International le 27 févr. 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Pori Big Band & Ernie Wilkins
Pop - Paru chez WM Finland le 2 mai 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Drum Suite / Son of Drum Suite. A Musical Portrait of Eight Arms from Six Angles
Manny Albam, Al Cohn, Ernie Wilkins
Jazz - Paru chez Fresh Sound Records le 21 août 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Suit & Tie Vol. 5
Tutti Camarata, Lionel Hampton, Ernie Wilkins, Buddy Morrow
Jazz - Paru chez Music Manager le 31 juil. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Pru's Blooze (Mono Version)
Ernie Wilkins, Kenny Clarke Septet
Jazz - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Greatest Hits Collection
Pop - Paru chez Music Manager le 21 avr. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo