Immanuel Wilkins

★★★★ The 7th Hand BLUE NOTE. CD/DL/LP

Alto saxophonist’s second album continues his upward trajectory.

Even though his career is just taking off, 22-year-old Wilkins already looks set to join the small pantheon of great alto saxophonists that includes Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Eric Dolphy and Jackie McLean. The Pennsylvanian had the jazz critics drooling over his 2020 debut, the socio-political themed Omega, and now unveils its follow-up, an equally accomplished opus that features seven compositions delivered by Wilkins fronting an excellent quartet augmented by Elena Pinderhughes, who contributes slivers of sunlit flute to illuminate the otherwise portentous Witness. Though the music is often probing and cerebral – and one track, the febrile Lift, is fiercely avantgarde – there are moments of repose, epitomised by the beautiful ballad Fugitive Ritual, Selah. With its edge-ofthe-seat improvisation and intrepid explorations, The 7th

Hand embodies contemporary jazz at its most thrilling.