Number #1 Jazz release of 2020. On his debut, the 23-year-old alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins announces himself with a suite of 10 compositions that move with such grace, there’s no time to feel overwhelmed by the surfeit of ideas packed into each one. Produced by Jason Moran, “Omega” features Mr. Wilkins’s working quartet of Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass and Kweku Sumbry on drums, gliding and diving with a telepathic synergy through tunes that he composed with the nation’s racial ills in mind, and that thrive thanks to a buoyant, up-to-date sense of swing (New York Times)
Top Jazz 2020- MUSICA JAZZ ITALIA Critic’s Poll: Winner, “BEST NEW TALENT: Immanuel Wilkins ”
Omega is the most important debut jazz recording in years (Jazz Times)
"Anyone trying to tune into the present moment in jazz could do a lot worse than starting with Immanuel Wilkins, an alto saxophonist whose playing is at once dazzlingly solid and perfectly lithe"(New York Times )
"Wilkins clearly has a vision, at once serious and sensuous. Omega teems with rage and reflection, meditative musicality and expressive intensity, and a sturdy technical bravura which invariably serves the integrity of the compositional and conceptual whole rather than indulging a blowing session hubris" (Jazziz)
"The forthrightness and utter command displayed by Wilkins and his quartet is stunning. This is more than an impressive debut: it deserves consideration for one of the year’s best" (Glide)
"An Alto saxophonist with this really exceptionally expressive style, you hear so much emotion in his playing, it’s a very human sound” ( NPR Music)
Omega just may be one of the most relevant recordings of this epic year of 2020, if not for its acceptance of social responsibility, then for its sheer virtuosity, and colorful melodicism ( All About Jazz)
…[A]n auspicious, extremely impressive debut from an artist who arrives fully formed as a bandleader (AllMusic)
This is an album of powerful and timely music performed by musicians of the very highest calibre that demands to be both heard and understood( London Jazz News)
Omega est une charge qu’on reprendra plusieurs fois, parce que ce genre de disque est salvateur, et qu’on tient avec Immanuel Wilkins et son gang (les jeunes Micah Thomas au piano, Daryl Johns à la basse et Kweku Sumbry à la batterie), la quintessence de ce que le jazz ne doit jamais cesser d’offrir. Des têtes chercheuses, charismatiques, sûres et fières de leurs forces. (Jazz News)
An album like Omega is immeasurably affecting in our current era, taking on the social issues revolving around race and racism in this country today, showing not only the horrors inflicted on countless individuals over the years, but also the stolid strength of character exhibited by a people who have been put down time and time again. It’s a lofty goal for a debut outing as a leader, but Immanuel Wilkins is more than capable of delivering on the album’s premise. Omega is truly a thing of beauty and a much-needed bit of artistic reckoning in 2020. (Spectrum Review)
