New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Alto saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins has released his remarkable sophomore album The 7th Hand, the follow-up to his widely acclaimed debut
Omega which was named the #1 Jazz Album of 2020 by The New York Times. The 7th Hand once again showcases Wilkins' profound compositional talent with a seven-movement suite of new original pieces performed by his quartet with Micah
Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass, and Kweku Sumbry on drums, plus special guests Elena Pinderhughes on flute and the Farafina Kan percussion ensemble. Wilkins tells Don Was about some of the meaning behind the music on the latest episode of "First Look."
Wilkins' music is filled with empathy and conviction, bonding arcs of melody and lamentation to pluming gestures of space and breath. The 7th Hand explores relationships between presence and nothingness across an hour-long suite. "I wanted to write a preparatory piece for my quartet to become vessels by the end of the piece, fully," says the Brooklyn-based, Philadelphia-raised artist who Pitchfork said "composes ocean-deep jazz epics."
While writing, Wilkins began viewing each movement as a gesture bringing his quartet closer to complete vesselhood, where the music would be entirely improvised, channeled collectively. "It's the idea of being a conduit for the music as a higher power that actually influences what we're playing," he says. The 7th Hand derives its title from a question steeped in Biblical symbolism: If the number 6 represents the extent of human possibility, Wilkins wondered what it would mean — how it would sound — to invoke divine intervention and allow that seventh element to possess his quartet.
Throughout the album Wilkins and his bandmates reveal their collective truth by peeling themselves back, layer by layer, movement by movement. "Each movement chips away at the band until the last movement — just one written note," says Wilkins. "The goal of what we're all trying to get to is nothingness, where the music can flow freely through us."
Following a sold-out album release show last night in Wilkins' hometown of Philadelphia, the saxophonist will be touring across the U.S. and
Europe over the coming months. Wilkins' sold-out NYC show at Harlem Stage has been rescheduled to February 25 due to the impending winter storm with a 2nd set added due to popular demand. See a full list of tour dates below or visit www.immanuelwilkins.com/calendar.
See what the critics have been saying about The 7th Hand:
"one of the most compelling instrumentalists in improvised music"—NPR Morning Edition
"Mr. Wilkins is a fast-rising star among jazz's ranks. His is a music of big ideas, constructed from small details that get continually reconsidered and reconfigured."—Wall Street Journal
"This is heartfelt music and absorbed in one continuous, hour-long session, it has a powerful effect on the listener as well."—Stereogum
"Even though his career is just taking off, Wilkins already looks set to join the small pantheon of great alto saxophonists that includes Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Eric Dolphy and Jackie McLean… 'The 7th Hand' embodies contemporary jazz at its most thrilling"—MOJO
"The immense promise of the 24-year-old American saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins surges on with The 7th Hand - on which Wilkins and his hip young New York lineup nimbly join heavyweight spiritual themes to light-footed contemporary jazz-making."—The Guardian
"Following the buzz around his debut Omega, the 24-year-old Philadelphia born-and-raised alto saxophonist-composer Immanuel Wilkins raises the bar further with the same quartet for his latest release The 7th Hand... Among other achievements is his delivery of intricate solos with an eloquent narrative development that constantly remains succinct and melody driven."—Jazzwise
"This is music on a whole other level... the quartet seizes each of Wilkins' heady concepts and questions of time with a cutting vigor and dynamic which only comes by once in every generation."—All About Jazz
"The 7th Hand reveals even more of Wilkins' artistry... He further cements his growing reputation as one of the strongest contemporary forces in this music."—Glide Magazine.
IMMANUEL WILKINS - 2022 TOUR DATES:
January 28: The Side Door, Old Lyme, CT
February 18: SFJAZZ, San Francisco, CA
February 20: Bach Dancing and
Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay, CA
February 21: Kuumbwa Jazz Center,
Santa Cruz, CA
February 22: Portland Jazz Festival, Portland, OR
February 23: Just Jazz Series, Los Angeles, CA
February 25: Harlem Stage, New York, NY
February 26: Kennedy Center, Washington DC
March 3: Bimhuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
March 4: Paradox Tilburg, Tilbourg, The Netherlands
March 5: Lantaren Venster, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
March 6: DeSingel, Antwerp, Belgium
March 8: Porgy & Bess, Vienna, Austria
March 9: Jazz Club Unterfahrt, Munich, Germany
March 10: Jazz Club Singen, Singen, Germany
March 11: Jazz School Basel Club, Basel, Switzerland
March 12: Jazz Club Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
March 13: You Must Believe in
Spring Festival, Mantova, Italy
March 14: Ronnie Scott's, London, UK
March 15: Le Duc des Lombards, Paris, France
March 16: Le Duc des Lombards, Paris, France
March 17: 30CC, Leuven, Belgium
March 19: Terrassa Jazz, Terrassa, Spain
March 20: Tempo Club, Madrid, Spain
March 22: Teatro
Victoria Eugenia, San Sebastian, Spain
March 23: ZigZag Club, Berlin, Germany
March 24: Halle424, Hamburg, Germany
March 25: Transition Festival, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
