Rick Wilkins (musician)

Last updated

Rick Herbert Richard Wilkins (born 1 February 1937) is a Canadian composer, [1] conductor, [2] and tenor saxophonist. [3] He is primarily known for his work as an arranger. [4] [5] He has worked extensively for CBC and CTV arranging, rehearsing, and often conducting music for television and radio programs of pop-music and variety entertainments. He has arranged music for television specials featuring Julie Amato, Tommy Ambrose, Guido Basso, the Canadian Brass, Burton Cummings, Anne Murray, and Wayne and Shuster among others. In 1976-1977 he worked as a music director for CBS in Los Angeles, where among his projects was directing music for a number of specials starring the Jackson Five. [6]

Contents

Early life and education

Wilkins was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. While still in his teens he worked as a saxophonist and arranger with Jack Ryan's dance band in the mid-1950s in Hamilton. In 1957, he moved to Toronto where he studied privately with Gordon Delamont and at the Advanced School of Contemporary Music with Phil Nimmons.

Career

Wilkins performed with a number of dance bands in Toronto, including Benny Louis's band. In 1960, he started arranging music for Jack Kane and his orchestra with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1970 he recorded an album of Christmas music with the band "Mutual Understanding". [7] In the 1980s and 1990s he performed and recorded with the Boss Brass [8] [9] and also recorded with the Ed Bickert Quartet. [10] [11]

Wilkins became involved with arranging and writing music for CBC Television with whom he was active though the 1990s. [6] [12] He was a Genie Award nominee for Musical Score in a Non-Feature at the 1st Genie Awards in 1980 for his work on the CBC documentary series Dieppe 1942 . The same year he scored the Canadian horror film The Changeling , starring George C. Scott.

In 1994 Wilkins arranged and conducted the musical accompaniment for jazz pianist Oliver Jones' album From Lush to Lively. [13]

Wilkins played with the Brass Connection II in 2000; [14] in 2002, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. Shortly after this he joined a "big band" organized by John MacLeod, another former Boss Brass player. [8]

In 2018 the Ensemble Vivant released an album of music arranged by him, Tribute to Rick Wilkins. [15]

Selected compositions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moe Koffman</span> Canadian jazz musician (1928–2001)

Morris "Moe" Koffman, OC was a Canadian jazz saxophonist and flautist, as well as composer and arranger. During a career spanning from the 1950s to the 2000s, Koffman was one of Canada's most prolific musicians, working variously in clubs and sessions and releasing 30 albums. With his 1957 record Cool and Hot Sax on the New York–based Jubilee label, Koffman became one of the first Canadian jazz musicians to record a full-length album. Koffman was also a long-time member of Rob McConnell's Boss Brass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob McConnell</span> Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger

Robert Murray Gordon McConnell, was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger. McConnell is best known for establishing and leading the big band The Boss Brass, which he directed from 1967 to 1999.

Ron Collier, was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger. He performed in and led a number of jazz groups, and created orchestrations for and recorded with Duke Ellington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Bickert</span> Canadian jazz guitarist (1932–2019)

Edward Isaac Bickert, was a Canadian guitarist who played mainstream jazz and swing music. Bickert worked professionally from the mid-1950s to 2000, mainly in the Toronto area. His international reputation grew steadily from the mid-1970s onward as he recorded albums both as a bandleader and as a backing musician for Paul Desmond, Rosemary Clooney, and other artists, with whom he toured in North America, Europe and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Thompson (musician)</span> Canadian jazz musician

Donald Winston Thompson, OC is a Canadian jazz musician who plays double bass, piano, and vibes. Thompson's career as a performer, recording artist, producer, session musician, and music educator has lasted for more than 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Appleyard</span> British–Canadian jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer

Peter Appleyard, was a British–Canadian jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer.

The Juno Awards of 1979, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 21 March 1979 in Toronto at a ceremony hosted by Burton Cummings at the Harbour Castle Hilton Convention Centre.

<i>Mel Tormé, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass</i> 1986 studio album by Mel Tormé

Mel Tormé, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass is a 1986 studio album by Mel Tormé, accompanied by Rob McConnell's Boss Brass Big band. Tormé and McConnell's follow up album, Velvet & Brass was released in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guido Basso</span> Canadian jazz musician (1937–2023)

Guido Basso was a Canadian jazz musician who was a member of Rob McConnell's Boss Brass big band. He was a trumpeter, flugelhornist, arranger, composer, and conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Dwyer (musician)</span> Musical artist

Phil Dwyer is a Canadian jazz saxophonist, pianist, composer, producer and educator. In 2017 he graduated from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Faculty of Law in Fredericton, New Brunswick and was called to the bar of British Columbia in 2018. Dwyer is Member of the Order of Canada, having been invested in 2013 "For his contributions to jazz as a performer, composer and producer, and for increasing access to music education in his community." Dwyer has been nominated for Juno Awards six times and won Best Mainstream Jazz Album in 1994 with Dave Young for Fables and Dreams and Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year in 2012 for the recording Changing Seasons. Dwyer has also appeared on Juno Award winning recordings with Hugh Fraser (1988), Joe Sealy (1997), Natalie MacMaster (2000), Guido Basso (2004), Don Thompson (2006), Molly Johnson (2009), Terry Clarke (2010), and Diana Panton (2015). He is an alumnus and Honorary Fellow of The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Marty Morell is a jazz drummer who was a member of the Bill Evans Trio for seven years—longer than any other drummer. Before joining Evans, he worked with the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims Quintet, Red Allen, Gary McFarland, Steve Kuhn, and Gábor Szabó.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Amadio</span> Canadian jazz musician (1928–2020)

Albert Norman Benedict "Norm" Amadio was a Canadian jazz pianist, piano teacher, music coach, composer, arranger, session player, band leader and accompanist. For a span of fifty years he worked for the CBC as an orchestra leader and musical director for many TV series. In 1956, he became the first and only Canadian to play at the original Birdland in New York City and while playing opposite Duke Ellington.

Jimmy Dale was a British-born Canadian arranger, composer, conductor, organist, and pianist. He was active as a music director for both Canadian and United States television during the 1970s and 1980s. He has also composed several film and television scores and written a number of TV theme songs and jingles. He has also worked as an arranger and pianist for both performances and recordings with several notable artists.

Fred Stone was a Canadian flugelhornist, trumpeter, pianist, composer, writer, and music educator. He worked as a soloist within both the classical and jazz repertoires from the 1950s through the early 1970s, appearing in concerts with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, and the San Diego Symphony. Between 1971 and 1983, he mainly focused on his work as a composer and teacher, making only periodic public performances, and often with ensembles composed largely of his students. In 1984, he formed "Freddie's Band", a jazz ensemble in residence at The Music Gallery in Toronto. He performed with this group up until his death two years later.

Norman Alec Symonds was a Canadian composer, clarinetist, and saxophonist who lived and worked in Toronto, Ontario. A leading figure in the third-stream movement in Canada, he composed several jazz works which employed classical forms.

Jaroslav "Jerry" Toth was a Canadian saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, arranger, composer, and record producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl MacDonald</span> Musical artist

Earl MacDonald is a Canadian pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, recording artist, and educator specializing in jazz. Described as "a magical, musical alchemist of hip hybrids", MacDonald's compositional work frequently draws upon other musical styles, fusing them with jazz. The Winnipeg native has been employed as director of jazz studies at the University of Connecticut since the fall of 2000.

Ronald "Ron" Frank Paley is a Canadian composer, arranger, pianist, electric bassist, and big-band leader based in Winnipeg.

<i>All in Good Time</i> (Rob McConnell album) 1982 studio album by Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass

All in Good Time is an album by Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass that won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1984.

Robert Carli is a Canadian film and television composer and saxophonist. He is the composer of 11 seasons of Murdoch Mysteries.

References

  1. 1 2 Jazz Times . Vol. 26, Issues 1-5. Jazztimes; 1996. p. 116.
  2. ↑ Covering Niagara: Studies in Local Popular Culture . Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press; 20 May 2010. ISBN   978-1-55458-247-1. p. 235.
  3. ↑ Jeff Sultanof. Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A Listener's Companion . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 8 November 2017. ISBN   978-1-4422-4243-2. p. 150.
  4. ↑ Saxophone Journal . Vol. 25. Dorn Publications; 2000. p. 67.
  5. ↑ "Jazz East Big Band celebrates 20 years with St. John’s concert". The Telegram, Wendy Rose. May 06, 2018
  6. 1 2 "Rick Wilkins". The Canadian Encyclopedia . 15 December 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  7. ↑ "Rick Wilkins and the Mutual Understanding". Canuckistan Music, by Michael Panontin, 1979.
  8. 1 2 "Big band, small steps". , Mark Miller, Toronto, The Globe and Mail, January 25, 2003
  9. ↑ "Green displays keen technique". Winnipeg Free Press, via Newspaper Archives. November 07, 1994 - Page 22
  10. ↑ Billboard . Nielsen Business Media, Inc.; 2 November 1985. ISSN   0006-2510. p. 73.
  11. ↑ Fanfare . Vol. 9, Issues 3-4. J. Flegler; 1986. p. 329.
  12. ↑ "Stop the music". By Dave LeBlanc Toronto Star, Jan. 6, 2008
  13. ↑ "Jazz great is a class act", Winnipeg Free Press, via Newspaper Archives, February 23, 1996 - Page 27
  14. 1 2 "Band more earnest than audacious". Mark Miller, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, February 18, 2000
  15. ↑ "Tribute to Rick Wilkins - Ensemble Vivant with Guido Basso; Brian Barlow; Mike Murley". The Whole Note, by Raul da Gama, 28 March 2018
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.