Pianist and composer Skip Wilkins and his superb trio have two new Dreambox Media CD releases in 2011. With bassist Scott Lee and drummer Jeff Hirshfield, Skip recorded these new albums in two days in Brooklyn. The first release, I Concentrate on You (DMJ-1133), features a sublime set of standards, some well known and others less often played. This collection of pieces was recorded impromptu-style on the second day of the sessions. A day earlier, the trio recorded an ambitious set of Skip’s new compositions, released together as After (DMJ-1135). These pieces bear his unmistakable signature – a curious blend of his harmonic, melodic and rhythmic ideas, and this trio puts an emphatic new stamp on his writing.
You'll also find news within of Skip’s 2010 international CD release, Frydlant Nights (Czech Radio Prague, CR0473-2). The CD from the Rostislav Fras – Skip Wilkins Quintet contains many of Skip’s compositions and was recorded in Prague, with Fras (tenor), Skip (piano), Neil Wetzel (alto), Josef Feco (bass) and Gary Rissmiller (drums).
“Wilkins goes from soulful, gut-bucket mode to rich ballads to angular modern jazz...”
-Philadelphia Inquirer
“Full of emotion and intellectual fervor.” -All About Jazz
“West Coast cool but with updated, East Coast suavity.” -Philadelphia Inquirer
“Wilkins is an inventive, subtle pianist...[his] music has an edge; he’s searching for, and more often than not finding, his own voice, which is really what jazz is all about...” -Allentown Morning Cal
“Wilkins has a particularly nice touch both composing and playing ballads.” -Cadence |
