In memory of Jack Wilkins (1944-2023)
Today, June 3, 2025, is the eighty-first anniversary of jazz guitarist Jack Wilkins‘s birth. This remembrance is in tribute to him.
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Host Charles Carlini of Carlini Media staged a celebration of jazz guitar great Tal Farlow at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City on June 24, 1996. Farlow had turned 75 just a few weeks earlier on June 7. He was long considered “one of the leading bebop guitarists of his generation.” Nicknamed “The Octopus” for his breathtaking speed and agility, the soft-spoken Farlow was known for his “melodic inventiveness and pleasingly gentle touch.” Herb Ellis, Howard Alden, Attila Zoller, Johnny Smith, and Jack Wilkins & Carl Barry in a special duet, were billed as among “the world’s finest guitarists” who performed at the concert.
Farlow died on July 25, 1998, a little more than two years after this tribute concert.
From that concert, the Wilkins–Barry duet on “Have You Met Miss Jones?”—a classic Richard Rodgers–Lorenz Hart song from the 1937 musical comedy I’d Rather Be Right—is presented here for the first time on YouTube. Jack lays down the melody, Carl takes the first solo, Jack’s solo follows—and their musical interplay till the song’s conclusion led to a rousing ovation from the audience, leading host Charles Carlini to exclaim: “Burnin’!” And that it was.
Sadly, Jack Wilkins died on May 5, 2023. Jack is remembered by all those who knew and loved him. Carl and Jack were very dear friends and their many appearances together often produced musical magic. This is one of those moments.
Notablog 