29-year-old New York-based saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins is the youngest of 20 people to receive this year’s MacArthur Foundation’s "genius grants".
The MacArthur Foundation's no-strings attached fellowship awards each recipient $800,000 paid out in quarterly installments over a five-year period.
Wilkins transforms traditional concert venues into multi-sensory spaces. He is celebrated for blending traditional jazz motifs with modern textures, gospel influences, and themes exploring history, spirituality, and resilience across acclaimed albums like Omega, The 7th Hand, and Blues Blood.
In a 2023 interview with David Sanborn on WBGO, Wilkins talked about how he approaches his music.
You can hear the entire episode of As We Speak with David Sanborn here.
