If you are a listener/reader that keeps up with my album posts, then you might have questioned my use of the word “classic” in my descriptions and might even have some doubts concerning the authenticity. You might even feel that I am using this word in a sort of loose manner and with no responsibility. Well, I’m not, I am being as accurate as I can be. The readers/listeners must also understand, how I evaluate and come to certain conclusion. I research and evaluate each and every album I post on, very thoroughly. Not to mention, there’s plenty of pressure resting on my judgement here, on my album posts, and with all the rest of the music I add and broadcast publicly, on Jazz Con Class Radio. They better be as “classic” as I make them out to be! I also use the word “unknown” on my posts and they certainly are also! These albums are, for one or more reasons, are totally discarded and eventually rarely talked about. This particular 1957 album I’m posting about here, “Jenkins, Jordan and Timmons” is an another “unknown classic” and features a great “unknown” alto saxophone player named John Jenkins (biography below). A real classic, get a hold of it!
About the album:
Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (1994, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California). Four of the five selections on this CD reissue (which also includes “Tenderly”) are obscure jazz originals by altoist John Jenkins, tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, or trombonist Julian Priester. Inspired by both Charlie Parker and Jackie McLean, Jenkins teams up with Jordan, pianist Bobby Timmons, bassist Wilbur Ware, and drummer Dannie Richmond for some bop-oriented improvising. Strange that this would be one of only two sets led by Jenkins. Although the Blue Note CD, recorded just……Read More
Biography of John Jenkins:
John Jenkins is from Chicago where he was born on January 3, 1931 and has been another pupil of the famous Capt. Walter Dyett of Du Sable High. Johnny Griffin, Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore were among his schoolmates. Jenkins began on clarinet and six month later switched to alto. His baptism of fire came in 1949 at the Roosevelt College sessions promoted by Joe Segal and he continued to play at these swinging affairs during his next seven years in Chicago. He also played at local clubs like the Bee Hive. In 1955, John did a week apiece in Chicago and Cleveland with Art Farmer
when Gigi Gryce was unable to be present. In December of that same year, he fronted his own quartet at Chicago’s Bee Hive during the Christmas holidays. Concerts and sessions for Joe Segal were the main items on the agenda in 1956; musicians as Ira Sullivan and Johnny Griffin were among the participants……Read More
