Jazz impresario Immanuel Wilkins tries his hand at nothingness

*The 7th Hand* album photography by Satchel Lee

EXCERPT //

Composer and saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins has been ready to improvise since he showed up to Philadelphia’s legendary Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts at eight years old, his sax in tow—so says the club’s beloved musical director Lovett Hines. In January, Wilkins came back from Brooklyn for a sold-out show in his hometown, produced by Ars Nova Workshop at PhilaMOCA, to celebrate the release of his biblically inspired sophomore record, The 7th Hand.

Wilkins is clearly loved by his hometown audience and is already, at 24, a veteran of the scene who is settled in at Blue Note Records and is well respected by his peers. Critics have taken note, too; his 2020 debut album, Omega, was named best jazz album of the year by Giovanni Russonello at The New York Times.

You’ll better understand his expansive nature—how he can return faithfully to solid ground after musically plumbing the depths and careening around the stars—when you understand how Wilkins’ faith roots him. “When I think about vesselhood, I think of African practices of spirit possession. You see that in most of the African Diasporic spiritual practices,” says Wilkins in Blue Note press materials. He explains that among the Yoruba, “It’s on the drums to call down a deity, and then the dancer gets possessed by that deity. But it’s kind of universal, across all African practices, including in the Black Church where you catch the Holy Spirit.” // HSB

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Recommendation // The 7th Hand