[4] Jenkins was immersed in music from an early age, and recalled listening to Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and singers such as Billy Eckstine and Louis Jordan.

[8] At one point, he attended an AACM event featuring music by Roscoe Mitchell, performed by Maurice McIntyre, Charles Clark, Malachi Favors, Alvin Fielder, and Thurman Barker.

[11] During this time, Jenkins began playing in a trio format with fellow AACM members Anthony Braxton and Leo Smith, recording the album 3 Compositions of New Jazz in 1968.

While in Paris, Jenkins had to opportunity to perform with a wide range of musicians, including Archie Shepp and Philly Joe Jones, with whom he recorded, Alan Silva, on whose album Luna Surface he appeared, and Ornette Coleman, who at one point organized a joint Paris concert featuring the Creative Construction Company, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Coleman's own group.

[19] During the early and mid-1970s, he also performed and recorded with Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, Carla Bley, Grachan Moncur III, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Paul Motian, Dewey Redman, and Archie Shepp.

During the late 1970s, Jenkins performed and recorded with pianist/composer Anthony Davis and drummer Andrew Cyrille,[20] and in the early 1980s, he formed a band called Sting, with two violins, two guitars, electric bass, and drums.

[24] In the late 1980s, Jenkins toured and recorded with Cecil Taylor,[20] and received a commission from Hans Werner Henze, artistic director of the Munich Biennial New Music Theatre Festival, enabling him to compose Mother of Three Sons, a dance-opera based on African mythology, in collaboration with choreographer/director Bill T. Jones and librettist Ann T. Greene.

[27][28][29][24] He also participated in a reunion of the Revolutionary Ensemble,[30] and performed and recorded with the group Equal Interest, which featured Jenkins on violin, Joseph Jarman on woodwinds, and Myra Melford on piano.

[3] At the time of his death he was working on two new operas: Bronzeville, a history of South Side Chicago, and Minor Triad, a music drama about Paul Robeson, Lena Horne, and Cab Calloway.

[27] With the Revolutionary Ensemble With Muhal Richard Abrams With Carla Bley With Joe Bonner With Anthony Braxton With Thomas Buckner With Don Cherry With Alice Coltrane With Creative Construction Company With Anthony Davis With James Emery With Carl Hancock Rux With Rahsaan Roland Kirk With George E. Lewis With Grachan Moncur III With Paul Motian With Mtume With Dewey Redman With Jeffrey Schanzer With Archie Shepp With Alan Silva With Cecil Taylor With Henry Threadgill