Jack Wilkins

Jack Wilkins was born Jack Rivers Lewis on June 3, 1944, in Brooklyn. His father played saxophone and trombone while his mother sang and played piano. He grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Billie Holiday, as well as Chuck Berry and doo-wop groups. Wilkins began guitar at age thirteen after hearing recordings of Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow, and Django Reinhardt shared by an older cousin. He studied fundamentals with Joe Monti using the Mel Bay method. In his teenage years, Wilkins performed professionally with bandleaders Les Elgart, Warren Covington, and Sammy Kaye in pop, dance, and Latin ensembles.

The saxophonist Paul Jeffrey became a crucial mentor, introducing Wilkins to Thelonious Monk’s music and recruiting him for the album Watershed in 1972. Wilkins recorded his debut album Windows for Mainstream Records in 1973, completing it in a single six-hour session with bassist Mike Moore and drummer Bill Goodwin. The album remained largely unknown until the track “Red Clay” was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Chance the Rapper, and Angie Stone decades later. This unexpected attention led to a three-year position with Buddy Rich’s working septet from 1971 to 1975, where he worked alongside saxophonist Sonny Fortune and bassist Anthony Jackson. The group recorded Very Live at Buddy’s Place for Groove Merchant in 1971.

Wilkins then recorded two albums for Chiaroscuro Records: Merge and You Can’t Live Without It, both released in 1977. These sessions featured the Brecker Brothers (Randy on flugelhorn and trumpet, Michael on saxophone), Eddie Gomez on bass, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. He also performed as a sideman on recordings with vocalist Morgana King and collaborated with Charles Mingus. In 1992, Wilkins released Mexico with saxophonist Phil Woods on CTI Records. He recorded Reunion with the Brecker Brothers for Chiaroscuro in 2001.

Wilkins taught at the New School, Manhattan School of Music, and NYU for many decades. His technique was flawless, with ringing harmonics reminiscent of Lenny Breau. He commanded jazz standards and contemporary compositions with equal facility. As an NEA grant recipient, he remained active in New York jazz clubs and the restaurant Bella Luna on the Upper West Side. Wilkins was diagnosed with stage-four kidney disease four years before his death. He suffered a broken hip from a fall in late 2021. He died at Mount Sinai Hospital on May 5, 2023, at age seventy-eight, with his fiancée Gayle Tapper at his bedside.