The guitarist Jack Wilkins personifies the term underrated. His albums from the Seventies should have made him a star, but instead he morphed into a “musician’s musician,” a player revered by other players for his abundant gifts but unfairly neglected by the commercial public. Windows, initially released in 1973, was Wilkins’s debut recording as a lead. A trio date, it found the technically accomplished guitarist with two other superb jazz musicians: the bassist Michael Moore and the drummer Bill Goodwin, a longtime member of Phil Woods ensembles. In addition to superb playing from all, Windows demonstrates Wilkin’s spot on taste in repertoire, reinterpreting such iconic tunes as Chick Corea’s “Windows,” John Coltrane’s “Naima,” Wayne Shorter’s “Pinochle” and Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay.” A fleet fingered electric guitarist with a gorgeous touch, Wilkins also displays his finesse on the classical instrument on the album’s closing track, “Song for the Last Act.” If you don’t know Wilkins’s work, Windows is the perfect recording with which to start.
