Ernest Dawkins

Ernest Dawkins is an American jazz saxophonist, principally active in free jazz and post-bop.

Ernest Khabeer Dawkins was a neighbor of Anthony Braxton as a child. He played bass and drums early in life before switching to saxophone in 1973. During that decade he began studying with members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, such as Joseph Jarman and Chico Freeman, as well as at the Vandercook College of Music. He worked with Ed Wilkerson and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and Douglas Ewart before founding his own New Horizons Ensemble, which played regularly in Chicago into the 2000s, as well as at jazz festivals and on tour in Europe.

Discography

As leader

• After the Dawn Has Risen (Open Minds, 1992)
• South Side Street Songs (Silkheart Records, 1994)
• Chicago Now Vol. 1 (Silkheart, 1995)
• Chicago Now Vol. 2 (Silkheart, 1997)
• Mother's Blue Velvet Shoes (Dawk, 1998)
• Jo'burg Jump (Delmark Records, 2000)
• Cape Town Shuffle (Delmark, 2003)
• Misconception of a Delusion Shades of a Charade (Dawk, 2003)
• Mean Ameen (Delmark, 2004)
• The Messenger (CD and DVD) (Delmark, 2006)
• Un-Till Emmett Till (Dawk, 2009)
• The Prairie Prophet (Delmark, 2011)
• Velvet Songs (RogueArt, 2011)
• Afro Straight (Delmark, 2012)
• Memory in the Center (Dawk, 2015)

As sideman

With Ethnic Heritage Ensemble

• The Continuum (Delmark, 1997)
• Papa's Bounce (CIMP, 1998)
• Freedom Jazz Dance (Delmark, 1999)

References

• Scott Yanow, Ernest Dawkins at Allmusic