Jenks was a "prolific ragtime composer, teacher and performer from Maine who fused traditional ragtime with classical music themes".[7] He attended the New England Conservatory[6] before going on to receive a degree in music from Earlham College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Jenks toured with singer-songwriter Jud Strunk between 1975 and 1978.[8] He also performed with such acts as Manhattan Transfer, Dick Hyman, Gordon Bok, Doc Watson[9] and Andy Williams.[2] In 1978, Jenks began his solo performing career and in 1979 released his first album entitled Antidote on the Bonnie Banks record label.[6]
Throughout the 1980s, Jenks served as pianist for the New England Vaudeville Review, the New Vaudeville Revival,[10] and husband and wife dance duo Tony and Karen Montanaro.[2] Jenks was an original founding member of numerous ragtime festivals and between 1989 and 2000 he produced the Harvest Ragtime Revue in Camden, Maine.[11][10][6] Jenks was a noted ornithologist and botany specialist on roses who conducted tours of gardens throughout the Camden area.[12] He founded the annual Rose Day celebration at the Merryspring Nature Center.[13]
“As a performer, Jenks was known for his energetic playing, focusing mostly on traditional ragtime idioms. As a composer, he wrote wonderfully sensitive rags, sticking close to the traditional ragtime form, but blending in sophisticated contemporary harmonies. He wrote over 30 piano rags, a string quartet, a ragtime piano concerto and many non-ragtime compositions as well.”
Jenks was commissioned by Down East Singers to compose Heaven and Earth are Full of Thy Glory for their concert tour of Russia.[14] His String Quartet in Ragtime has been recorded and performed by several string quartets including the Laurentian Quartet,[15][16] Vancadium Quartet and the Halcyon Quartet.[12]
Jenks died on January 21, 2016, in Portland, Maine.[1]
Legacy
In 2019, the Glenn Jenks Ragtime Revue premiered at the Camden Opera House in Camden, Maine.[11] The Revue revived a tradition that Jenks started 30 years prior which brought nationally-known artists together in "song, dance, humor and ragtime."[11][17] The Revue has presented awards to various ragtime performers including Sue Keller, Edward A. Berlin and Max Morath.[11][18] It also sponsors the "Glenn Jenks Future in Music Prize" in association with the Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School in Rockport, Maine.[19][5]
In 2020, a collection of Jenk’s complete rags for piano was released.[20][21] In May 2024, American pianist Corte Swearingen released the album The Complete Ragtime Works for Piano by Glenn Jenks - Vol. 1.[22] The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri posthumously awarded Jenks their 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award.[23]
^Shaw, Lew (March 1, 2016). "Ragtimer Glenn Jenks has died". Syncopatedtimes.com. The Syncopated Time. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
^Mezjuev, Oleg. "Glenn Jenks". Ragtime.nu. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
