Leroy Jenkins

Leroy Jenkins stood at the forefront of free jazz as its foremost violinist, broadening the sonic palette and expressive range available to string players in improvisational settings. His command of the instrument encompassed vigorous sawing motions, deliberate string bends, and intricate plucking patterns. Adventurous melodic lines and gritty, distorted solos formed the core of his delivery, which wove strands of blues, bebop, and classical vocabulary into a singular voice. He has repeatedly cited an eclectic array of inspirations, among them violinists Eddie South and Jascha Heifetz as well as saxophonists and composers such as Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane.

Jenkins first took up the violin at age eight, frequently performing in Chicago churches. While attending Du Sable High School he studied under Walter Dyett and also played alto saxophone. After earning his degree from Florida A&M he abandoned the saxophone to devote himself entirely to violin. For roughly four years he instructed students in string techniques in Mobile, Alabama. Returning to Chicago in the mid-1960s, he balanced classroom duties in the city’s public schools with active participation in the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians from 1965 through 1969.

One of the AACM contingent that relocated to Europe in the late 1960s, Jenkins joined Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith, and Steve McCall in Paris to establish the Creative Construction Company; he also performed there alongside Ornette Coleman. Back in Chicago by 1970, he soon accompanied Braxton to New York, where the pair resided and studied for three months at Coleman’s home. Brief engagements with Cecil Taylor and Braxton preceded associations with Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The pivotal development came in 1971 when Jenkins, Sirone, and Jerome Cooper formed the Revolutionary Ensemble, a cooperative trio that ranked among the era’s most significant small groups. Each member supplied original material, and their concerts often unfolded as evolving explorations in which all three musicians switched among several instruments. Over six years on multiple labels the group sustained artistic cohesion while releasing recordings that earned critical esteem yet scant commercial success.

Following the trio’s dissolution Jenkins undertook repeated European tours and directed both a quintet and a trio that included Anthony Davis and Andrew Cyrille. In the mid-1980s he joined the board of directors of the Composers’ Forum and performed in Cecil Taylor’s quintet in 1987, mounting numerous free-music events while composing for soloists, chamber ensembles, and larger orchestras. During the 1990s he secured substantial commissions and grants supporting experimental and theatrical projects and served frequently as musician-in-residence at universities. Jenkins died in New York on February 24, 2007. Several of his sessions originally issued on Black Saint and India Navigation remain available on compact disc.