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- Edward L. Wilkerson, Jr. ,, is an internationally recognized American jazz composer, arranger, musician, and educator based in Chicago. As founder and director of the cutting edge octet, 8 Bold Souls, and the 25 member performance ensemble, Shadow Vignettes, Wilkerson has toured festivals and concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. Defender, a large-scale piece for Shadow Vignettes, was commissioned by the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund and featured in the 10th Anniversary of New Music America, a presentation of BAM's Next Wave Festival. His music can be heard on fourteen recordings, including two film soundtracks and the critically acclaimed albums Birth of a Notion, and 8 Bold Souls, both on his own Sessoms Records label. One of the great saxophone and clarinet players on the Chicago scene, Edward Wilkerson Jr. , from the '80s into the new millennium may have become best known as a bandleader and composer, particularly associated with medium- to large-scale projects (somewhat daunting in an era when creative music bandleaders are challenged to keep even small ensembles together). He has also been a major presence in Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), teaching composition at the organization's music school and serving for a time as AACM president. The AACM collective, with its spirit of community as well as unbridled creativity, has been a predominant nurturing force for Wilkerson and has informed much of his work. He was an original member of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (formed by percussionist Kahil El'Zabar upon El'Zabar's 1976 graduation from the AACM school) and remained with the group until 1997 when replaced by Ernest "Khabeer" Dawkins. However, while appearing on such Ethnic Heritage Ensemble recordings as Three Gentlemen From Chicago (Moers), Hang Tuff (Open Minds), and Dance With the Ancestors (Chameleon), Wilkerson was also becoming more involved in leading his own projects, which characteristically saw the reedman thinking big. His most ambitious project, Shadow Vignettes, was initiated in 1979; with 25 musicians and incorporating dance, poetry, and visual arts, the ensemble's influences include the big band work of Muhal Richard Abrams, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Sun Ra. Shadow Vignettes released one CD, Birth of a Notion, on the Sessoms Records label in 1985. One of Shadow Vignettes' major pieces is entitled "Defender," commissioned by the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund and featured in the tenth anniversary of New Music America, presented by the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival. Wilkerson's best-documented ensemble as a leader is 8 Bold Souls, an octet initiated in January 1985 with a series of Thursday night concerts at the Chicago Filmmakers performance space. The popularity of the concerts led Wilkerson to establish 8 Bold Souls as a working band, and since their formation, four Souls CDs have been issued: 8 Bold Souls on Sessoms Records, Sideshow and Ant Farm on Arabesque Records, and Last Option on Thrill Jockey. Influenced by the small groups of Duke Ellington and Jimmie Lunceford, 8 Bold Souls also makes plenty of room for adventurous experimentation in the AACM spirit, drawing fully on the unusual sonic possibilities of the group's instrumentation of two woodwinds, trumpet, trombone, cello, tuba, bass, and trap drums. Overall, Wilkerson's work may be heard on 14 recordings, including two film soundtracks. In addition to his work with 8 Bold Souls, Shadow Vignettes, and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Wilkerson has also played with the AACM Big Band, Roscoe Mitchell, Douglas Ewart, the Temptations, Chico Freeman, Geri Allen, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Aretha Franklin, and George Lewis. Wilkerson's most recent release is the ensemble performance, Frequency, on the Thrill Jockey label. Encompassing distinctive compositions, and high quality improvisational flights plus World and Native American sonic echoes, this debut CD confirms both the talents of the band Frequency and the continued adaptability of Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) members. Besides the AACM-link, each participant in this Chicago-based quartet brings different sensibilities to the session. It includes reedist Ed Wilkerson and bassist Harrison Bankhead from 8 Bold Souls. Flautist Nicole Mitchell leads her own groups as well as working as an educator, while veteran percussionist Avreeayl Ra’s AACM involvement goes back almost to the cooperative’s founding. Wilkerson has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the Community Arts Assistance Program, and has been cited in numerous music polls. In his free time, Wilkerson, past president and longtime member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), teaches composition at the AACM School of Music.
- Edward „Ed“ Wilkerson Jr. ist ein US-amerikanischer Jazz-Musiker (Tenorsaxophon, Altklarinette, Flöte, Piano und Perkussion), Bandleader und Musikpädagoge. Edward Wilkerson begann seine Musikerkarriere in der Chicagoer Jazzszene und gehörte bald zu den Mitgliedern der Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), in deren Musikschule er später Komposition unterrichte; eine Zeitlang war er auch Vorsitzender der AACM. Schon Mitte der 1970er Jahre arbeitete Wilkerson mit Musikern des AACM-Kollektivs zusammen, wie mit dem Perkussionisten Kahil El'Zabar; wurde dann Gründungsmitglied in Zabars Ethnic Heritage Ensemble und blieb bis 1997 in der Gruppe, bis er von Ernest Dawkins ersetzt wurde. Wilkerson wirkte an den ersten Alben wie Three Gentlemen From Chicago (Moers Records, 1980), Hang Tuff (Open Minds) und Dance With the Ancestors (Chameleon) mit. Wilkerson leitete dann auch eigene Projekte, wie die 1979 gegründete Formation Shadow Vignettes, in der insgesamt 25 Musiker arbeiteten (u. a Reggie Nicholson, Ernest Dawkins) und die Tanz, Poesie, Bildende Kunst einbezog. Die Musik der Shadow Vignettes nahm Anleihen bei den Big Band-Arbeiten von Muhal Richard Abrams, Duke Ellington, Count Basie und Sun Ra. Die Shadow Vignettes nahmen ein Album auf (Birth of a Notion), das 1985 auf Sessoms Records erschien. Im Januar 1985 gründete Wilkerson dann sein Ensemble 8 Bold Souls, ein Oktett, mit dem er regelmäßig bei Konzerten in Chicago auftrat und das schließlich zu seiner working band wurde. Mit dem Clarinet Choir, zu dem auch J. D. Parran und Mwata Bowden gehörten, trat er 1986 in Moers auf. Wilkerson arbeitete außerhalb der Formationen 8 Bold Souls, der Shadow Vignettes und dem Ethnic Heritage Ensemble noch mit der AACM Big Band, mit Roscoe Mitchell, Douglas Ewart, The Temptations, Chico Freeman, Geri Allen, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Aretha Franklin und George Lewis. Gegenwärtig arbeitet Wilkerson mit der Formation Frequency mit Nicole Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead und Avreeayl Ra. und spielen eine Mischung aus Free Jazz, afrikanischen Einflüssen und konkreten Geräuschen. Wilkerson erhielt Auszeichnung vom Illinois Arts Council, dem National Endowment for the Arts, dem Programm Meet the Composer und dem Community Arts Assistance Program.
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