John Jenkins was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 saxophonist.

Jenkins initially studied clarinet in high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 but switched to saxophone after six months on the instrument. He played in jam session

Jam session

Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...

s led by Joe Segal at Roosevelt College from 1949-1956. He played with Art Farmer

Art Farmer

Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...

 in 1955 and led his own group in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 later that year. In 1957 he played with Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

 and recorded two albums as a leader. He played as a sideman with Donald Byrd

Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...

, Hank Mobley

Hank Mobley

Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...

, Paul Quinichette

Paul Quinichette

Paul Quinichette was a jazz tenor saxophone musician. He was known as the Vice President or Vice Prez for his uncanny emulation of the breathy style of Lester Young, known as Prez. Young, who affectionately called everyone "Lady ****" , called him "Lady Q"...

, Clifford Jordan

Clifford Jordan

Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...

, Sahib Shihab

Sahib Shihab

Sahib Shihab was an American jazz saxophonist and flautist.-Biography:...

, and Wilbur Ware

Wilbur Ware

Wilbur Ware was an American jazz double-bassist known for his hard bop percussive style.Born in Chicago, Ware taught himself to play banjo and bass. In the 1940s, he worked with Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt and Roy Eldridge. In the 1950s, Ware played with Eddie Vinson, Art Blakey, and Buddy DeFranco...

 in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but essentially dropped out of music after 1962, aside from a few dates with Gloria Coleman

Gloria Coleman

Gloria Coleman was an American musician.Coleman played bass, piano then organ. As a jazz organist she released two albums. The first, Soul Sisters, by the Gloria Coleman Quartet was for the Impulse! Records label. It featured drummer Pola Roberts, Leo Wright and Grant Green. It was produced by...

.

After leaving the jazz world he worked as a messenger

Courier

A courier is a person or a company who delivers messages, packages, and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of express services, and swift delivery times, which are optional for...

 in New York and dabbled in jewelry; he sold brass objects at street fairs in the 1970s. After 1983 he began practicing again and playing live on street corners; shortly before his death he played with Clifford Jordan

Clifford Jordan

Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...

.

As leader

• Jenkins, Jordan, and Timmons (New Jazz
  Prestige Records
  Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
  
  , 1957)
• John Jenkins with Kenny Burrell
  John Jenkins with Kenny Burrell
  John Jenkins with Kenny Burrell is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Jenkins and jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded in 1957 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
  
   (Blue Note
  Blue note
  In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
  
  , 1957)
• ALTO MADNESS / Jackie McLean & John Jenkins (Prestige
  Prestige Records
  Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
  
  , 1957)

As sideman

With Teddy Charles

Teddy Charles

Teddy Charles is an American jazz pianist, drummer and vibraphone musician. Born Theodore Charles Cohen in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, he began his musical career studying at Juilliard School of Music as a percussionist...

• Coolin (New Jazz
  Prestige Records
  Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
  
  , 1957)

With Clifford Jordan

Clifford Jordan

Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...

• Cliff Jordan
  Cliff Jordan (album)
  Cliff Jordan is an album by American jazz saxophonist Cliff Jordan featuring performances recorded in 1957 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by awarded the album 3 stars.-Track listing:# "Not Guilty" - 11:43...
  
   (1957, Blue Note
  Blue Note Records
  Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
  
  )
• Play What You Feel (Mapleshade, 1990)

With Hank Mobley

Hank Mobley

Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...

• Hank
  Hank (album)
  Hank is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Blue Note label in 1957 as BLP 1560. It was recorded on January 13, 1957 and features Mobley, Donald Byrd, John Jenkins, Bobby Timmons, Wilbur Ware and Philly Joe Jones.-Reception:...
  
   (1957, Blue Note)

With Wilbur Ware

Wilbur Ware

Wilbur Ware was an American jazz double-bassist known for his hard bop percussive style.Born in Chicago, Ware taught himself to play banjo and bass. In the 1940s, he worked with Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt and Roy Eldridge. In the 1950s, Ware played with Eddie Vinson, Art Blakey, and Buddy DeFranco...

• The Chicago Sound (1957, Riverside Records
  Riverside Records
  Riverside Records was a United States record label specializing in jazz. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer under his firm Bill Grauer Productions, Inc. in 1953, the label was a major presence in the jazz record industry for a decade...
  
  )