Immanuel Wilkins
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant Recipient
Recipient Information
Location
Brooklyn, New York
Year of Award
2021
Grant or Fellowship
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant
Grant Amount
$39,975
About the Project
Great Philadelphia legend, Odean Pope has mentored most of the city's music scene's emerging voices. One protege, Wilkins, coupled with Pope will produce a new "bespoke" ensemble in partnership with Ars Nova and provide community exploratory workshops. The residency will be documented.
Residency location
Philadelphia, PA
About the Artist
Immanuel Wilkins is a saxophonist, composer, educator and bandleader from the greater Philadelphia area. By studying the humanity and cultural specificity of jazz, he aspires to bring people together through his art, and to be a positive force in both music and society.
Growing up, he honed his skills in the church and studying in programs like the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz. While studying for his bachelor's degree in music at Juilliard, he established himself as an in-demand side person, traveling nationally and internationally and recording with such artists as Jason Moran, the Count Basie Orchestra, Wynton and Delfeayo Marsalis, Gretchen Parlato, Bob Dylan, Solange Knowles, among others. More than 4 years ago he formed his quartet, featuring Micah Thomas (piano), Daryl Johns (bass) and Kweku Sumbry (drums), which has been a prime vehicle for his growth as a composer and arranger. He has received a number of commissions, including most recently, from the National Jazz Museum in Harlem (with dancer/choreographer Sidra Bell), and The Kimmel Center Artist in Residence for 2020 (in collaboration with photographer Rog Walker and videographer David Dempewolf).
He already has an impressive resume as a jazz educator, giving masters classes and clinics at schools/venues that include Oberlin, Yale, the Kimmel Center, and the Philadelphia Clef Club. His debut recording, Omega, produced by Jason Moran and released by Blue Note Records, has uniformly received critical acclaim. The album's compositions, all of which were written by Wilkins, are an opus on the Black experience in America. It was named NPR Music's ""Best Debut Jazz Recording of 2020, and the NYT's #1 Jazz Recording of 2020. Wilkins was voted ""Best New Jazz Artist"" in the JazzTimes Critics' Poll, and Best New Talent of 2020 by Musica Jazz. In 2021 he was nominated for a NAACP Image Award (Best Jazz Instrumental album) and won the prestigious LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award.
Of Wilkins and his band, Jason Moran said, ""Immanuel has always been leaning into the music. He is a powerful player. He blends traditions in a way that only his generation knows how to do. His band is set to begin a new mode that I look forward to hearing develop. The future of the music rests with these musicians, and I trust their noses.