Skip Wilkins - Skip Wilkins Quintet Disc 2

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:07
Size: 165,1 MB
Art: Front

( 9:26)  1. For Ten Percent
( 7:38)  2. Used to Be
( 7:06)  3. Agitated
( 7:09)  4. Need Some Ice
( 6:37)  5. Quiet, Please!
(10:14)  6. Not Perfect
( 7:16)  7. Betrayal
( 5:44)  8. Fortuitous Fifteen
(10:52)  9. Hold Me

"Quintet Volume II contains nine original tunes by the leader, some terrific, all interesting. What’s more, this is definitely a group effort...these fellows have played together for awhile, and its straight-ahead, cohesive sound shows it....The style is solid straight-ahead, many numbers on the contemplative side. ...Most tracks are seven to ten minutes long. Democratically, each musician gets equal solo time, ample opportunity to stretch out. The highly-rated Rissmiller particularly shines throughout, knitting the group together, embellishing each tune with his tasty touches on drums. Some stand outs--'Used to Me' features Kozik’s relaxed guitar and Marino’s soft bass. On 'Not Perfect,' Wilkins' jaunty piano introduces the tune, and Kendall’s soft sax effectively builds to a strong climax, blending with piano and guitar for a delicate, pensive finish.  Wilkins shows Bill Evans’ influence, stretching out for his strongest improvising in 'Fortuitous Fifteen,' a guitar-piano collaboration. 'Hold Me,' Wilkins' remembrance of 9/11, starts starkly, making way for Kendall’s haunting sax solo. The piano provides a moving coda, concluding a very fine album."~  JazzReview.com 

"Pianist Skip Wilkins continues his easy-to-take ways on this follow-up to last year's Volume I. Wilkins...doesn't wax professorial on this set of nine originals. The session sounds like West Coast cool but with updated, East Coast suavity. The quintet...regularly creates a likable languor. The tunes evolve - the fast-moving 'Needs Some Ice' hits a soulful interlude courtesy of (Tom Kozic's) guitar, while 'Quiet, Please,' written for a local politician whom Wilkins found irritating, comes off as chamomile mellow. Neat trick... 'Fortuitous Fifteen' is more angular and boppish yet still melodic, while 'Hold Me' is all liquid ballad."~  Philadelphia Inquirer

"Pianist Skip Wilkins gathers some musically sympathetic colleagues in Easton, Pennsylvania, for the second part of a marathon session. Wilkins' pieces are well thought out, with plenty of musical mile-markers in the solo sections to tie in with the various head structures...the musical quality is always there. The CD begins with a Silver-Blakey influenced mid-tempo quasi-shuffle, 'For Ten Percent,' a tune with some definite soul. Paul Kendall’s straight-ahead tenor solo reminds a little of Frank Foster or Benny Golson in its overall approach. Guitarist Tom Kozic comes through with a burnished tone like Burrell and he is no slouch. The rhythm section cooks along, drummer Rissmiller sounds tasty. Skip takes a solo next in an impeccable way according to the style at hand. An engaging tune. A pretty ballad in three follows, called 'Used to Be.' Wilkins takes a solo which gives you his lyrical-melodic sincerity and Kendall’s tenor sounds a bit like Shorter in a wistful mood. He builds the solo as the rhythm section takes on a kind of 1965 Miles feel... A Shorter ESP period-like 'Betrayal' follows, with a rather nice wispy tenor motif and piano response. Then follows an almost polite post-Evans 'Hold Me' with quiet chords on piano with quiet guitar commentary. The tenor does a Shorteresque cantabile and it’s all quite sensitive......well-wrought, quite pleasant...the song craft is in abundant evidence... the rhythm section strongly anchors the date and it’s all solid..." ~ Cadence  http://www.dreamboxmedia.com/wilkins.htm

Skip Wilkins Quintet

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Skip Wilkins - Skip Wilkins Quintet

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:54
Size: 160,6 MB
Art: Front

( 6:40)  1. It Was Bound to Happen
(10:53)  2. Stephanie's Song
( 7:27)  3. No Parking
(10:49)  4. Would Aldous Huxleys
( 7:59)  5. The Hand-off
( 5:30)  6. Unforgotten
( 6:46)  7. One Last Look
( 7:16)  8. Longing
( 6:30)  9. Take the Fourth

Pianist/composer/bandleader Skip Wilkins is a talented musician working out of Eastern Pennsylvania, where he teaches at the Williams Center of the Arts in Easton in addition to making gigs in Philadelphia, the Poconos and New York City. He's recorded several albums with flutist Jill Allen and has compiled, over the years, an impressive catalog of original compositions, now available on Quintet, Vol. 1, soon to be followed by a companion volume.  Culled from three separate concerts given at his college, this recording documents the interworkings of a cohesive band playing over well-conceived material. Consisting of Wilkins, tenorist Paul Kendall, guitarist Tom Kozic, bassist Tony Marino and drummer Gary Rissmiller, the quintet makes music marked by an informality and intimacy gained only through close association and mutual respect. Wilkins has penned some very fine tunes here, including "It Was Bound to Happen (a two-beat funker with an expansive and lyrical phrase structure), "Stephanie's Song (a beautiful ballad in 3/4), and "Unforgotten (a pensive, exploratory ballad). 

There are some brisk up-tempo numbers, too Wilson likes to call them "rumbles over which the group members acquit themselves to forceful effect, as on "No Parking, when Kozic's guitar comes crashing out of the starting gate, only to catch a mellow stride at the solo's mid-stretch. The band (with a pinch-hitter on bass) gave New Yorkers a chance to sample its wares at a mid-December mid-afternoon concert at BigAppleJazz/EZ's Woodshed, a newish Harlem one-stop bop-shop created and curated by Gordon Polatnick. The camaraderie and compatibility suggested by the recording was immediately apparent on the bandstand. Wilkins and friends treated listeners to selections from the recording, as well as some from the yet-to-be-released Vol. II, setting these compositional gems in an aesthetically apposite musical jewel box. 

~ Tom Greenland https://www.allaboutjazz.com/skip-wilkins-quintet-vol-i-skip-wilkins-dreambox-media-review-by-tom-greenland.php

Personnel: Skip Wilkins: piano; Paul Kendall: tenor saxophone; Tom Kozic: guitars; Tony Marino: bass; Gary Rissmiller: drums.

Skip Wilkins Quintet

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Skip Wilkins - Father & Son

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 55:49
Size: 102,6 MB
Art:

(7:40)  1. Witness & Muse
(7:22)  2. Elegant Lady
(5:33)  3. A House In the Village (Green)
(5:41)  4. Kindness
(4:17)  5. Message to Maruska
(7:35)  6. Reckless Not Feckless
(5:43)  7. And Now…
(6:07)  8. Butterfly of Steel
(5:46)  9. Not Really

Dan Wilkins' musical journey started at home, playing with his father, pianist Skip Wilkins.  First taken by the haunting ballads of Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon, Wilkins naturally took to the tenor saxophone.  Teachings of David and Caris Liebman, proved invaluable to his continuous musical pursuit.  In 2008, Wilkins moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with saxophonists Steve Wilson and Rich Perry, and pianists Garry Dial and Phil Markowitz. Throughout his tenure at MSM, Wilkins worked and toured with the collaborative group COLONY, performing around the New York area at 92nd St Y Tribeca, Cornelia St. Cafe, and the Iridium Jazz Club, among others.  In October 2012, Wilkins was featured as Artist of the Month at the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap. Internationally, Wilkins has been performing at clubs and festivals around the Czech Republic, Germany,  and Greece and educating at summer Festivals such as the Czech Jazz Workshop 2012 and 2013, and the Kryoneri Jazz Workshop 2013.

Father and Son, released on Steeplechase Look Out in 2011 features lyrical compositions by Skip Wilkins.  The two are complimented by bassist Scott Lee and drummer Jeff Hirshfield.  The quartet performs on stages such as the Deer Head Inn, the COTA Festival in Delaware Water Gap, and Lafayette College's Williams Center for the Arts. Currently, the Dan Wilkins Group features Patrick McGee on soprano saxophone, Vaughn Stoffey and Mike Bono on guitars, Kevin Bernstein and Dave Lantz on keyboards, Daryl Johns on bass, and Jimmy Macbride on drums.  This group is a vehicle for composition, breaking away from idiomatic instrumental roles observed in traditional and modern jazz. Wilkins believes in the power of spiritual rejuvenation and healing through the arts, and studies and practices neuro-muscular bodywork in Bethlehem, PA. http://www.danwilkinsmusic.com/about-1/

On Father & Son, Skip and his son Daniel join forces with the other members of Skip’s New York Trio, bassist Scott Lee and drummer Jeff Hirshfield, for a set of Skip’s compositions. A brilliant, young saxophonist, Dan studied at the Manhattan School of Music and is otherwise very active with a range of his own groups in New York and Pennsylvania, and as a sideman there and in Europe, where he has toured extensively. Together, Skip and Daniel have headlined at festivals and clubs in Prague, Berlin and beyond, playing music penned by each of them. https://www.amazon.com/Father-Son-Skip-Wilkins/dp/B0093OK572

Personnel:  Dan Wilkins (saxophone); Skip Wilkins (piano); Scott Lee (bass), Jeff Hirshfield (drums)

Father & Son

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