Leroy Jenkins

Leroy Jenkins (March 11, 1932 As a youth, he lived with his sister, his mother, two aunts, his grandmother, and, on occasions, a boarder, in a three-bedroom apartment. Jenkins was immersed in music from an early age, and recalled listening to Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and singers such as Billy Eckstine and Louis Jordan. When Jenkins was around eight years old, one of his aunts brought home a boyfriend who played the violin. After hearing him play a difficult Hungarian dance, Jenkins begged his mother for a violin, and was given a red, half-size Montgomery Ward violin that cost twenty-five dollars. He began taking lessons, and was soon heard at St. Luke's Baptist Church, where he was frequently accompanied on piano by Ruth Jones, later known as Dinah Washington. After graduating, Jenkins attended Florida A&M University, where he resumed study of the violin. At one point, he attended an AACM event featuring music by Roscoe Mitchell, performed by Maurice McIntyre, Charles Clark, Malachi Favors, Alvin Fielder, and Thurman Barker. Jenkins recalled being both confused and excited, and was thrilled to be included in a collective improvisation after taking out his violin. Jenkins would rehearse and perform with the group for roughly four years,

During this time, Jenkins began playing in a trio format with fellow AACM members Anthony Braxton and Leo Smith, recording the album 3 Compositions of New Jazz in 1968. (Abrams also appears on the album.) In 1969, the trio moved to Paris, where they began playing with drummer Steve McCall, in a group that became known as the Creative Construction Company. While in Paris, Jenkins had to opportunity to perform with a wide range of musicians, including Archie Shepp and Philly Joe Jones, with whom he recorded, Alan Silva, on whose album Luna Surface he appeared, and Ornette Coleman, who at one point organized a joint Paris concert featuring the Creative Construction Company, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Coleman's own group. That same year, Jenkins participated in the recording of Braxton's album B-Xo/N-0-1-47a for BYG Actuel.

In 1970, Jenkins left Paris, later stating that he did not feel comfortable with the fact that he did not speak French, and moved to New York City. Upon his arrival, he reconnected with Coleman and moved into Coleman's Artists House loft, where he lived for several months. He recalled: "We stayed downstairs... It was cold down there, where we slept. Ornette gave us a mattress but he didn't realize how cold it was." The concert, which also featured Muhal Richard Abrams and bassist Richard Davis, was recorded thanks to Coleman, who arranged for an engineer to be present, Jenkins went on to form the Revolutionary Ensemble with bassist Sirone and percussionist Jerome Cooper, a group that would last roughly six years. During the early and mid-1970s, he also performed and recorded with Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, Carla Bley, Grachan Moncur III, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Paul Motian, Dewey Redman, and Archie Shepp. In 1974, the Jazz Composer's Orchestra commissioned Jenkins to compose a large-scale work, resulting in the album For Players Only. In 1975, he recorded Swift Are the Winds of Life, an album of duets with drummer Rashied Ali. These albums would be followed by over a dozen releases under his name over the next thirty years.

During the late 1970s, Jenkins performed and recorded with pianist/composer Anthony Davis and drummer Andrew Cyrille, During this time, in addition to placing in reader and critic polls in Jazz Magazine and DownBeat, he began receiving greater recognition as a composer, garnering commissions and grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and performances from groups like the Kronos Quartet, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the New Music Consort, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, among others. In the late 1980s, Jenkins toured and recorded with Cecil Taylor,

The 1990s and 2000s saw a continuation of Jenkins's success as a composer. New works included Fresh Faust, a jazz-rap opera, written for Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art; The Negro Burial Ground, a cantata presented by The Kitchen and workshopped at UMass Amherst; the opera The Three Willies, presented at the Painted Bride in Philadelphia and at the Kitchen; and Coincidents an opera with librettist Mary Griffin, performed at Roulette in New York. and performed and recorded with the group Equal Interest, which featured Jenkins on violin, Joseph Jarman on woodwinds, and Myra Melford on piano. At the time of his death he was working on two new operas: Bronzeville, a history of South Side Chicago, and Minor Triad, a music drama about Paul Robeson, Lena Horne, and Cab Calloway.

Discography As leader/co-leader For Players Only (JCOA Records, 1975, LP) Swift Are the Winds of Life (Survival, 1976, LP) Solo Concert (India Navigation, 1977, LP) Lifelong Ambitions (Black Saint, 1981, LP; 1993, CD) The Legend of Ai Glatson (Black Saint, 1978, LP; 1993, CD) Space Minds, New Worlds, Survival of America (Tomato, 1979, LP; 1989, CD) Mixed Quintet (Black Saint, 1983, LP; 1997, CD) Straight Ahead/Free at Last (Red Record, 1980, LP) Urban Blues (Black Saint, 1984, LP; 1997, CD) Leroy Jenkins Live! (Black Saint, 1993, CD) Themes & Improvisations on the Blues (CRI eXchange, 1994, CD) with Soldier String Quartet, Henry Threadgill, Marty Ehrlich Out of the Mist (Ocean, 1997, CD) with Joseph Jarman Solo (Lovely Music, 1998, CD) Equal Interest (Omnitone Records, 1999, CD) as Equal Interest: with Joseph Jarman and Myra Melford The Art of Improvisation (Mutable Music, 2005, CD) with Driftwood

With the Revolutionary Ensemble Vietnam (ESP-Disk, 1972) Manhattan Cycles (India Navigation, 1973) The Psyche (RE Records, 1975) The Peoples Republic (A&M/Horizon, 1976) Revolutionary Ensemble (Enja, 1977) And Now... (Pi Recordings, 2004) Beyond the Boundary of Time (Mutable Music, 2008) Counterparts (Mutable Music, 2012)

With others With Muhal Richard Abrams Levels and Degrees of Light (Delmark, 1968) Mama and Daddy (Black Saint, 1980)

With Carla Bley Escalator over the Hill (JCOA Records/ECM, 1971, 3LPs) With Joe Bonner Angel Eyes (Muse, 1976) With Anthony Braxton 3 Compositions of New Jazz (Delmark, 1968, LP; Delmark, 1991, CD) Silence (Freedom Records, 1975, LP) Anthony Braxton (BYG Actuel, 1969, LP) This Time... (BYG Actuel, 1970, LP) New York, Fall 1974 (Arista, 1975, LP)

With Thomas Buckner Sign of the Times (Lovely Music, 1994, CD)

With Don Cherry Relativity Suite (JCOA Records, 1973, LP)

With Alice Coltrane Universal Consciousness (Impulse!, 1971) World Galaxy (Impulse!, 1972)

With Creative Construction Company Creative Construction Company (Muse, 1970 ) Creative Construction Company Vol. II (Muse, 1970 )

With Anthony Davis Of Blues and Dreams (Sackville 3032, 1979)

With James Emery Artlife (Lumina Records, 1982, LP)

With Carl Hancock Rux Apothecary Rx (Giant Step, 2004) Good Bread Alley (Thirsty Ear, 2006)

With Rahsaan Roland Kirk Rahsaan Rahsaan (Atlantic, 1970)

With George E. Lewis Shadowgraph (Black Saint, 1978, LP; 1998, CD)

With Grachan Moncur III Echoes of Prayer (JCOA Records, 1974, LP )

With Paul Motian Conception Vessel (ECM, 1973)

With Mtume Allkebu-Lan (Land of the Blacks) at the East (Strata East, 1972, 2LPs)

With Dewey Redman Coincide (Impulse!, 1974)

With Jeffrey Schanzer Vistas (Music Vistas, 1987, LP)

With Archie Shepp Archie Shepp & Philly Joe Jones (Fantasy Records, 1975, LP) Pitchin Can (American Records, 1970, LP) Things Have Got to Change (Impulse Records, 1971, LP) Attica Blues (Impulse, 1972, LP) Black Gipsy (Prestige Records, 1977, LP) The Cry of My People (Impulse, 1973, LP)

With Alan Silva Luna Surface (BYG, 1969)

With Cecil Taylor Live in Bologna, Leo Records (1988, 2 LPs; 1988, CD) Live in Vienna, (Leo Records, 1988, 2 LPs-Limited edition; 1991, CD)

With Henry Threadgill Too Much Sugar for a Dime (Axiom, 1993, CD)

Grants Fromm Music Foundation, Harvard University, commission, 2003 New York State Council on the Arts, Nyasaland, 2002; Jenkins Squared, 2000 Meet the Composer, Color Eugoloid for the Relâche Ensemble, 2002; Three Willies, 1996 The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Coincidents, 2002 Ford Foundation, Three Willies, 2001 Animating Democracy, Americans for the Arts (funded by the Ford Foundation and the NEA), Three Willies, 2001 Mutable Music, brass quartet and voice piece, 1998; trio and voice piece, 1991 Rockefeller Foundation, The Negros Burial Ground, 1996; Fresh Faust, 1992 Mary Flagler Cary Trust, The Negros Burial Ground, 1995 New York Foundation for the Arts, music fellowship, 1992, 1986 Munich Biennial New Music Theatre Festival, The Mother of Three Sons, 1990 National Endowment for the Arts, special projects grant, 1990, 1988, 1984 National Endowment for the Arts, jazz composition fellowship, 1987, 1979, 1973 Creative Arts Program, service grant, 1974

Awards The ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize, Concerto for Improvised Violin and Orchestra, 2006 Nominated for United States Artists Fellowships, 2006 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 2004 The New York Dance and Performance Bessie Awards, The Mother of Three Sons, 1992 Downbeat Magazine International Critics’ and Readers’ Poll, awardee, 1987, 1972 Jazz Magazine Poll for violin, awardee, 1979 Downbeat Magazine Talent Deserving Wider Recognition, awardee, 1974

Teaching Artist in Residence, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, 2002 spring Composer in Residence, Other Minds Festival, San Francisco, CA, 2000 Artist in Residence, Harvestworks, New York, NY, 2000 Master Artist in Residence, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL 1993 Artist in Residence, Atlanta Virtuosi, Atlanta, GA, 1991 Composer in Residence, Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin, OH, 1975 and 1990 Visiting Professor, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1989 spring

Professional memberships Board of Directors, Meet The Composer (founding member) Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) SESAC Atlantic Center for the Arts

Education Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida – B. A. in Music Education (full music scholarship) American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, Illinois DuSable High School, Captain Walter Dyett, Chicago, Illinois