Passing tone.

I don't normally repeat news of an artist's passing until it's been firmly documented, but a thread on Jazzcorner's Speakeasy bulletin board has reported the death of violinist and composer Leroy Jenkins. Since the original post in the thread cites Chuck Nessa, founder of the influential Chicago avant-jazz label that bears his last name, I'm inclined to believe it. What Nessa reported is that Jenkins succumbed to lung cancer yesterday, here in New York City.

Born in Chicago on March 11, 1932, Jenkins was an early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (A.A.C.M.), the collective that pioneered new modes of composing and performing in the wake of the free-jazz explosion in New York. Jenkins was part of an innovative trio with Anthony Braxton and Leo Smith that traveled to Paris in 1969, then morphed into the Creative Construction Company. But it was his work with the Revolutionary Ensemble, alongside bassist Sirone and percussionist Jerome Cooper, that brought him to prominence.

I consider myself fortunate to have heard Jenkins on a number of occasions over the years, including the reunion set by the Revolutionary Ensemble at the Vision Festival a few years back. I actually didn't care much for that performance, though some friends of mine felt it was a life-changing event. But I did very much appreciate the new album that followed, And Now... on Pi Recordings.

Another encounter came years earlier, when Houston Grand Opera mounted the local premiere of The Mother of Three Sons, which had been commissioned by the Munich Biennale and also appeared at New York City Opera. Conceived by Bill T. Jones, this unconventional dance-opera had only one singer on stage; the rest sang from positions off to the side of the stage, while Jones and his dancers enacted the tale. The work was controversial and not entirely well-received; Edward Rothstein was decidedly mixed when he reviewed the New York premiere (here). But I recall Leroy Jenkins's score as being vibrant and powerful. Around the same time, Jenkins performed with his electric band, Sting, at the Houston International Festival.

A few years later, after I moved to New York, I bumped into Jenkins in a subway station. He listened very graciously as I babbled about my appreciation of his work, including his then-newly released CRI album, Themes and Improvisations on the Blues. I also remember seeing Jenkins perform with pianist-harmonium player Myra Melford at David Lopato's loft, InHouse; they were subsequently joined by Joseph Jarman in a trio that I never did see, Equal Interest.

If you don't have any recordings by Jenkins in your collection, head over to Destination Out right now and grab the two tracks from The People's Republic, issued by A&M Horizon in 1975 and long, long out of print.

UPDATE: Darcy James Argue, who also just posted about Jenkins's passing, links to a fond remembrance by trumpeter Kris Tiner, who studied with Jenkins at CalArts in 2002.

Comments

[Peter Cherches]

While I wouldn't call that Revolutionary Ensemble reunion at Vision "life changing" it was perhaps the most focused, intense and moving performance I've witnessed by Jenkins himself.