[NewMusic] RIP: Leroy Jenkins

[Phillip Greenlief]

Dear bListers,

Some sad news to report...Leroy Jenkins has passed away. I think he made
a very beautiful and also very unique contribution to the post jazz
continuum.

PG


Leroy Jenkins: born March 11, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, died February
24, 
2007 in New York City 

(from AACM website) http://aacmchicago.org/

...Jenkins was already performing violin at the age of 8 at his local 
Ebenezeer Baptist Church. The flavor of spirituals still remains in his 
music. He studied music in high school and then attended Florida A&M 
University Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1932, Jenkins was already
performing 
violin at the age of 8 at his local Ebenezeer Baptist Church. The flavor
of 
spirituals still remains in his music. He studied music in high school
and 
then attended Florida A&M University where he studied with Bruce Hayden
and 
completed his B.S. in music. For the next ten years Jenkins remained in
the 
South teaching 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 , 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. par 
Leroy works in a multitude of contexts. His recording on Tomato, Space 
Minds, New Worlds, Survival in America has received rave reviews. He is 
performing in solo, trio and quintet contexts, and is also performing in
duo 
settings with woodwindist Oliver Lake .

Phillip Greenlief
c/o Evander Music
PO Box 22158 Oakland, CA
94623-9991
www.evandermusic.com