Composer, reed player, and bandleader, born April 9, 1894 in Charleston, South Carolina, died September 12, 1926 in Paris, France.
From 1914 to 1921 Jenkins studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and in 1921 made some recordings on which he played clarinet and saxophone. While in England, he worked with James Price Johnson (1923) and Will Marion Cook’s Southern Syncopated Orchestra. Jenkins also played in bands in France, Italy, and Belgium, and wrote some compositions in which he tried to fuse African-American and European music.