Ernie Wilkins
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New York City, July 6, 1976
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. |
| Born | (1922-07-20)July 20, 1922 St. Louis, Missouri |
| Died | June 5, 1999(1999-06-05) (aged 76) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Genres | Jazz, swing |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, arranger, composer |
| Instrument(s) | Saxophone |
Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. (July 20, 1922[1] – June 5, 1999) was an American jazz saxophonist, conductor and arranger who spent several years with Count Basie. He also wrote for Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Dizzy Gillespie. He was musical director for albums by Cannonball Adderley, Dinah Washington, Oscar Peterson, and Buddy Rich.
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Wilkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri. In his early career he played in a military band, before joining Earl Hines's last big band. He worked with Count Basie from 1951 to 1955, eventually leaving to work free-lance as a jazz arranger and songwriter. His success declined in the 1960s, but revived after work with Clark Terry, leading to a tour of Europe.
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Eventually Wilkins settled in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he would live for the rest of his life. There he formed the Almost Big Band so he could write for a band of his own formation.
The idea was partly inspired by his wife Jenny. Copenhagen had a thriving jazz scene with several promising jazz musicians as well as a well-established community of expatriate American jazz musicians which had formed in the 1950s and now included representatives like Kenny Drew and Ed Thigpen who joined the band along with Danish saxophonist Jesper Thilo. The band released four albums, but after 1991 he became too ill to do much with it.[2]
Ernie Wilkins died in Copenhagen on June 5, 1999, following a stroke.[3]
He has a street named after him in southern Copenhagen, "Ernie Wilkins Vej" (Ernie Wilkins Street).[4]
With Count Basie
With Louis Bellson
With DR Big Band
With Rob Franken
With Maynard Ferguson
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Al Grey
With Joe Newman
With Ernestine Anderson
With Count Basie
With Ray Brown
With Kenny Clarke
With Jimmy Cleveland
With Al Cohn
With Maynard Ferguson
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Freddie Green
With Milt Jackson
With Harry James
With Quincy Jones
With Sam Jones
With Mark Murphy
With Charles McPherson
With Joe Newman
With Herb Pomeroy
With Rex Stewart and Cootie Williams
With Sarah Vaughan and the Count Basie Orchestra
With Dinah Washington
With Charles Williams
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