Dan Wilkins (USA)
tenor sax
American saxophonist and composer Dan Wilkins, a member of Horizons Quartet, released the self-titled Horizons Quartet in 2021 on PM Records with bass legend Gene Perla, drummer Byron Landham, and pianist/arranger James Collins. The quartet rose from the pandemic, swinging and interpreting Wilkins’s own compositions at Miller Symphony Hall, COTA Jazz Fest, Musikfest, Clifford Brown Year Round, Deer Head Inn, Chris’ Jazz Café and Vic’s Jazz Loft.
The quartet performs with special guests on occasion, including trumpeters Benny Benack III and Chris Rogers, pianist Jon Ballantyne, and drummer Jimmy Macbride.
Wilkins holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2013, where he studied with Steve Wilson, David Liebman, Phil Markowitz, Garry Dial, Rich Perry, and John Riley.
Wilkins is now an active educator himself in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania and internationally.
Abroad, Wilkins has taught at Czech Jazz Workshop in Prague and Kryoneri Jazz Workshop in Greece. Wilkins also teaches saxophone at Lafayette College in Easton, PA as an adjunct faculty member.
Dan plans a fall album release with his father, pianist Skip Wilkins, on Deer Head Records. The father-son duo joins bassist Tony Marino and drummer Bill Goodwin for a sequel to their 2019 release, Someday. The quartet performs choice repertoire from the Great American Songbook, and they plan to release a third album in coming years as well.
Dan and Skip have toured and recorded internationally, releasing Czech Wishes on New Port Line Records in 2019, with a cast of Czech musicians – Miroslav Hloucal, Tomáš Baroš, and Marek Urbánek.
The father-son duo has performed in the Czech Republic together on several occasions with Josef Fečo, Marian Ševčík, and the late Rostislav Fraš, as well as with Zuzana Lapčíková, Vincenc Kummer, Libor Šmoldas and Tomáš Hobzek.
In Prague they have performed at Czech Radio Studios in Karlín, Jazz Dock, U Malého Glena, Agartha, and Reduta. Their Czech tours brought them to perform in Brno, Uherské Hradiště, Kyjov, Kladno and Lomnice. They also played at Schlot in Berlin.
More: www.danwilkinsjazz.com
