Jazz in Los Angeles is blooming right now. Thanks in part to concert promoters like Yousef Hilmy of Minaret Records, people across the city are hearing a wide range of improvisational music styles in bars, stores, churches, and gardens that now moonlight as jazz venues. Sam Wilkes, a bass player, composer, arranger, and bandleader, is one of the most sought-after musicians in that scene.
Category: Sam Wilkes
Sam Wilkes :: Live on the Green
Though he’s fully capable of unrolling long, bejeweled runs on his instrument, Wilkes uses Live on the Green to showcase his skills as an arranger and producer. He tends to use his bass the way Lonnie Liston Smith used his piano in Pharoah Sanders’ group, announcing the changes and providing a safe space from which his fellow players can launch, while also perfuming the atmosphere