Dan Wilkins Quartet

Saxophonist Dan Wilkins most recent release of 'Moonglow', out now on Deer Head Records. Wilkins pays homage to his musical upbringing in the Delaware Water Gap at the Deer Head Inn. He writes - The Deer Head Inn has long been a central hub for arts, specifically jazz in Eastern PA, opening as a jazz venue in the 1950s where John Coates Jr. would become the house pianist and a magnet for a colorful mix of established musicians. Phil Woods, Rick Chamberlain, Bob Dorough, David Liebman, Bill Goodwin and many others would also make a home in and around the Delaware Water Gap, where they helped to cultivate a thriving arts community and audience with a surprisingly eclectic variety of music. For me, the Deer Head Inn became a place of solace and expression, where straight-edged bebop, harmonically and rhythmically dense modern jazz, songbook tradition, wild free jazz, and downhome country could somehow coexist without pointing fingers. More than that, the masters challenged each other to supplant the mundane and reach for something greater. That's the ethos that formed my musical world. Moonglow features revered drummer Bill Goodwin, pianist Jon Ballantyne, and bassist Adrian Moring, with special guests, interpreting music ranging from Richard Rodgers, Harry Warren, and Leonard Bernstein to Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk. Wilkins showcases his compositions with his 2021 release Horizons Quartet, featuring legendary bassist Gene Perla, and drummer Byron Landham, with coleader pianist James Collins. The group has performed as venues such as Clifford Brown Year Round, Miller Symphony Hall, and Chris' Jazz Cafe with special guest Benny Benack III. Dan and his father, pianist Skip Wilkins have four albums together with a fifth in production. Their two most recent releases on Deer Head Records, feature bassist Tony Marino and drummer Bill Goodwin playing lesser known repertoire from the Great American Songbook. Dan Wilkins has another album in the works featuring pianist Jon Ballantyne, bassist Sam Harris, and drummer Byron Landham, with guests John Swana on EVI and valve trombone, and Josh Lawrence on trumpet. Jon is an artist who deftly combines the unknown with the known. Listening to the wondrous sounds he makes at the piano, audiences can never be sure where he will take the music next. There can be a palpable sense that they are hearing a feeling, harmony, melody or rhythm they may be familiar with, and at the same time, they are likely to be figuratively on the edge of their seats, excited, gratified that they are being taken on a musical adventure unlike anything they may have experienced previously. Jon comes by this strong sense of musical adventure honestly. Having been born with it is the most obvious explanation, but, for example, in performing hundreds of sets with saxophone great Joe Henderson, Jon was never a passive participant. Even when he was ‘laying out’, or ‘strolling’, Jon was observing Henderson (or Roy Haynes, who played with the band on several occasions), with a keen sense and an even quicker ear. The same applies to the time Jon spent with fellow pianist and friend Paul Bley. They played, they hung out. They recorded; they played 2 pianos in concert. Very few pianists have played and recorded duo pianos with Paul Bley, aside from Bill Evans ("Jazz in the Space Age"), as Paul pointed out to Jon before their first studio collaboration. No matter whom Jon has played with (*see extended list below), Jon has observed, Jon has listened and learned, all the while honing his own wit and otherworldly musical skills in the company of his contemporaries and the masters he has shared the stage and recording studio with. This continues unabated today (i.e., recent performances with saxophone greats Dave Liebman, Seamus Blake, Phil Dwyer and trumpet virtuoso Ingrid Jensen), though Jon is also now enjoying mentoring and inspiring younger musicians intent on the most creative paths in music. In the past two and a half decades, Jon has performed critically acclaimed solo piano concerts and with his stellar quartet at venues and major music festivals across Canada, Japan, the USA, The UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Holland, France, Germany, Italy and Israel. Solo concerts and club and concert performances with such notable artists as, once again, saxophonist David Liebman's quintet, with drummer Adam Nussbaum, guitarist Dave Stryker, saxophonists Adam Niewood and Roger Rosenberg, drummer Bill Goodwin, bassist Gene Perla, drummer Eliot Zigmund and trumpeters Joe Magnarelli and Thomas Goehring were the highlights of 2015/2016. 2014 saw Jon touring the Canadian jazz festival circuit, and the Northeastern US, performing solo concerts + concerts with his newly formed trio (Adam Nussbaum, drums; Evan Gregor, bass), and gigs with such jazz stalwarts as Warren Vache, Lew Tabackin, Michael Stephans, John Mosca, Bill Crow and Tony Marino. In 2012-2013, Jon performed in concert with saxophonist David Liebman, and also for the first time played in concert with four-time Grammy award winning saxophonist Phil Woods. Jon also became a member of a sextet led by former Elvin Jones/Sonny Rollins bassist Gene Perla. Whether he’s performing his original compositions, virtuosic two-handed spontaneous improvisations, or reworking jazz standards in his own innate, organic way, Jon Ballantyne’s openness, originality and inborn creativity always inform his music, much to the delight of his listeners. *Jon Ballantyne’s early interest in studying and playing jazz ultimately led to performances with musicians such as Joe Henderson (Jon was a member of Joe’s quartet from 1989-92), Paul Bley, Dewey Redman, Billy Hart, Roy Haynes, Gene Perla, Pepper Adams, Drew Gress, Seamus Blake, Ingrid Jensen, Phil Dwyer, Alan Jones, George Garzone, Dave Liebman, Donny McAslin, Mark Turner, Matt Wilson, Ray Drummond, Joe LaBarbara, Herbie Lewis, Kevin Dean, Joe Lovano, Andre White, Gene Jackson, Boris Kozlov, Yannick Rieu, Kent Sangster, The Mingus Big Band and Ben Perowsky. In his formative years, Jon played gigs with Pepper Adams, Benny Wallace, PJ Perry, Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd (with guests soloists Clark Terry, Al Cohn, Jimmy Giuffre, Buddy DeFranco, Shorty Rodgers, Red Mitchell, Terry Clarke, Richard Stolzman), Jack Sheldon, Neil Swainson and Jerry Fuller among many others. And before that Jon studied and played with greats like Dave Holland, Lee Konitz, Cecil Taylor, Ed Blackwell, Kenny Wheeler, Ron Carter, Peter Erskine, Don Thompson, Michael Brecker, Elvin Jones, Phil Nimmons, Karl Berger, Steve Coleman, John Abercrombie, Nat Adderley, Bob Mintzer and Emily Remler. He also had several private lessons in New York with Richard Beirach, Barry Harris, Joanne Brackeen, Kenny Barron and Hal Galper. This artist does not have a bio yet. In the '90s, Byron "Wookie" Landham came to be recognized as one of the top jazz drummers in Philadelphia, where he has been employed by well-known hard bop and soul-jazz improvisers like organist/trumpeter Joey DeFrancesco and the late organist/pianist Shirley Scott. And Landham also has a fine reputation outside of Philly; the non-Philadelphians who have used him as a sideman range from guitarists Lee Ritenour and Randy Johnston to tenor saxophonist Houston Person. Landham has also been employed by the late vocalist Betty Carter, although that association isn't typical of his résumé -- the adventurous, risk-taking Carter had a reputation for being avant-garde, whereas Landham has focused primarily on hard bop and soul-jazz. Philly is Landham's home town; he was born and raised in the Pennsylvania city where he began playing the drums at the age of seven. Landham was still a student at Olney High School (in the city's Olney section) when, at 17, he was hired to play some live gigs with Shirley Scott. By the time he was old enough to vote, the drummer had played quite a few club gigs in and around Philly. Landham considered Scott a mentor, and he felt the way same way about three Philly-based drummers who influenced his playing: Mickey Roker, Bobby Durham, and Butch Ballard. That isn't to say that every drummer who influenced Landham lived in Philly; other drummers who had an impact on his playing included Art Blakey, Max Roach, and Kenny Clarke (among others). In the '90s, Landham became a fixture in Philly jazz venues (especially a club called Ortlieb's Jazzhaus) and often played alongside people who were highly regarded in that city -- including trumpeter John Swana, pianists Orrin Evans and Sid Simmons, organist Papa John DeFrancesco (Joey DeFrancesco's father), and veteran tenor saxophonist Bootsie Barnes (who commands a devoted following in Philly but isn't well-known outside the city). Another musician Landham has played with extensively is Joey DeFrancesco, who employed the drummer on several of his albums in the '90s and early 2000s. It was also during the '90s that Landham's reputation spread way beyond Philly, resulting in appearances on albums by Houston Person, tenor saxman Ron Holloway, guitarist Russell Malone, and others. In 1998, Landham and his brother Robert Landham (an alto saxophonist) recorded an album as the Landham Brothers: At Last was released on the Straight Street label. Landham was still based in Philly in the early 2000s, but by that point, his playing was so in-demand that he was spending an average of four to five months on the road every year.