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Jack Wilkins: Windows

By Chris May
August 25, 2018
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Guitarist

Jack Wilkins

saxophone, tenor
1944 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Jack Wilkins' debut on producer Bob Shad's Mainstream label lay gathering dust for almost forty-five years before being reissued on CD by Solid Records in 2017. That disc, and now WeWantSounds' 2018 vinyl edition, have restored to general circulation an album that can be filed alongside such mid-twentieth century jazz-guitar gems as

Johnny Smith

guitar
1922 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Johnny Smith's Moonlight In Vermont (Roost, 1956),

Wes Montgomery

guitar
1923 - 1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Wes Montgomery's Incredible Jazz Guitar (Riverside, 1960) and

Grant Green

guitar
1935 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Grant Green's Idle Moments (Blue Note, 1964), from each of which Windows suggests Wilkins drew inspiration.

The cause of Windows' long spell in purgatory was that following Bob Shad's passing in 1985, Mainstream was acquired by Sony, who sat on it for decades. This despite the fact that Mainstream's spiritual-jazz / freedom-jazz catalogue is on a par with those of its contemporaries Strata-East, Impulse and Muse. Sony's inaction was a crime against jazz. Things only picked up when Shad's grandson, film-maker Judd Apatow, bought back the rights and licensed Solid's and WeWantSounds' reissue programmes.

Windows began to develop cult status with a new generation of listeners in 1993, when A Tribe Called Quest included a sample of the album's slow-funk

Freddie Hubbard

trumpet
1938 - 2008

" data-original-title="" title="">Freddie Hubbard cover, "Red Clay," on Midnight Marauders (Jive). On the other tracks, Wilkins blends Johnny Smith's chordal improvising, Wes Montgomery's parallel-octave runs and the languorous single-note runs Green brought to ballads. The material includes

Chick Corea

piano
1941 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Chick Corea's title track,

Wayne Shorter

saxophone
1933 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Shorter's "Pinocchio" and

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane's "Naima." The other two tracks, the furiously paced "Canzona" and gorgeous acoustic-guitar feature "Song For The Last Act," are originals by

Mike Moore

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Moore, bassist on the session.

Windows cannot be said to have broken any new ground, but it dug deep into previously charted territory and it still makes for glorious listening. Its reissue is a major event. So too are WeWantSounds' other Mainstream releases—

Buddy Terry

" data-original-title="" title="">Buddy Terry's Awareness (1971),

Harold Land

saxophone, tenor
1928 - 2001

" data-original-title="" title="">Harold Land's A New Shade Of Blue (1971) and a couple of various artists compilations including the outstanding Innerpeace: Rare Spiritual Funk And Jazz Gems: The Supreme Sound Of Bob Shad (1971-1974). These discs have previously been reviewed here. Hopefully, many more reissues will follow.

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Track Listing

Side A: Windows; Naima; Canzona. Side B: Pinocchio; Red Clay; Song For The Last Act.

Personnel

Jack Wilkins

saxophone, tenor

Jack Wilkins: electric guitar (A1-3, B1, B2), acoustic guitar (B3); Mike Moore: acoustic bass (A1-3, B1, B3), Fender bass (B2); Bill Goodwin: drums, percussion.

Album information

Title: Windows | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: WEWANTSOUNDS

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