Leroy Jenkins (jazz musician)


Leroy Jenkins was an American composer and violinist/violist.

Operas and a cantata

Mother of Three Sons, a dance-opera based on African mythology created in collaboration with choreographer/director Bill T. Jones and librettist Ann T. Greene. Commissioned by and premiered at the 1990 Munich Biennial New Music Theatre Festival. Also performed by the New York City Opera and the Houston Grand Opera.
Fresh Faust, a jazz-rap opera in collaboration with librettist Greg Tate directed by Dominic Taylor. Performed at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art.
The Negros Burial Ground, a cantata in collaboration with librettist Ann T. Greene and director Dominic Taylor. Presented by The Kitchen and workshopped at UMass Amherst.
The Three Willies, a multimedia jazz opera that explores the stereotype of Black men as "perpetual suspect". Created in collaboration with librettist Homer Jackson and choreographer Rennie Harris, director Talvin Wilks, and conductor/music director Alan Johnson. Premiered at The Painted Bride in Philadelphia, New York premiere at The Kitchen. Public Panels were jointly organized with the New York University Vera List Center for Art and Politics and a Digital Happy House on Race, Identity, and Media moderated by Christian Haye. Produced by Providence Productions International, Inc. with the support of Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Co-produced by The Kitchen.
Coincidents, a multimedia opera in collaboration with librettist Mary Griffin and visual artist Hisao Ihara. Jenkins and Griffin use incidents from their personal family histories to illustrate the fragility, flexibility, and resilience of individual identity. Performed at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

With the Revolutionary Ensemble
With Muhal Richard Abrams
With Carla Bley
With Joe Bonner
With Anthony Braxton
With Thomas Buckner
With Don Cherry
  • Relativity Suite
With Alice Coltrane
  • Universal Consciousness
  • World Galaxy
With Creative Construction Company
  • Creative Construction Company
  • Creative Construction Company Vol. II
With Anthony Davis
With James Emery
With Carl Hancock Rux
With Rahsaan Roland Kirk
With George Lewis
With Grachan Moncur III
With Paul Motian
With Mtume
With Dewey Redman
With Jeffrey Schanzer
With Archie Shepp
With Cecil Taylor
With Henry Threadgill