SOUND PROJECTIONS

AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE

EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU

FALL, 2019

VOLUME SEVEN NUMBER THREE

MAX ROACH

Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:

BEN WEBSTER

(September 7-13)

GENE AMMONS

(September 14-20)

TADD DAMERON

(September 21-27)

ROY ELDRIDGE

(September 28-October 4)

MILT JACKSON

(October 5-11)

CHARLIE CHRISTIAN

(October 12-18)

GRANT GREEN

(October 19-25)

ROY HARGROVE

(October 26-November 1)

LITTLE JIMMY SCOTT

(November 2-8)

BLUE MITCHELL

(November 9-15)

BOOKER ERVIN

(November 16-22)

LUCKY THOMPSON

(November 23-29)

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/milt-jackson-mn0000489845/biography

Milt Jackson

(1923-1999)

Artist Biography by Scott Yanow

Before Milt Jackson, there were only two major vibraphonists: Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo. Jackson soon surpassed both of them in significance and, despite the rise of other players (including Bobby Hutcherson and Gary Burton), still won the popularity polls throughout the decades. Jackson (or "Bags" as he was long called) was at the top of his field for 50 years, playing bop, blues, and ballads with equal skill and sensitivity.

Milt Jackson started on guitar when he was seven, and piano at 11; a few years later, he switched to vibes. He actually made his professional debut singing in a touring gospel quartet. After Dizzy Gillespie discovered him playing in Detroit, he offered him a job with his sextet and (shortly after) his innovative big band (1946). Jackson recorded with Gillespie, and was soon in great demand. During 1948-1949, he worked with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Howard McGhee, and the Woody Herman Orchestra. After playing with Gillespie's sextet (1950-1952), which at one point included John Coltrane, Jackson recorded with a quartet comprised of John Lewis, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke (1952), which soon became a regular group called the Modern Jazz Quartet. Although he recorded regularly as a leader (including dates in the 1950s with Miles Davis and/or Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, and Ray Charles), Milt Jackson stayed with the MJQ through 1974, becoming an indispensable part of their sound. By the mid-'50s, Lewis became the musical director and some felt that Bags was restricted by the format, but it actually served him well, giving him some challenging settings. And he always had an opportunity to jam on some blues numbers, including his "Bags' Groove." However, in 1974, Jackson felt frustrated by the MJQ (particularly financially) and broke up the group. He recorded frequently for Pablo in many all-star settings in the 1970s, and after a seven-year vacation, the MJQ came back in 1981. In addition to the MJQ recordings, Milt Jackson cut records as a leader throughout his career for many labels including Savoy, Blue Note (1952), Prestige, Atlantic, United Artists, Impulse, Riverside, Limelight, Verve, CTI, Pablo, Music Masters, and Qwest. He died of liver cancer on October 9, 1999, at the age of 76.

https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/miltjackson

Milt Jackson

Biography
Articles
News

Born on Jan. 1, 1923, in Detroit, Jackson's musical beginnings were in the neighborhood gospel churches as a pianist, guitarist, violinist percussionist and singer. He took up the vibraphone in high school. He moved to New York, played with Earl Hines and in 1945, joined Dizzy Gillespie's big band rhythm section, which also included pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Kenny Clarke. He worked with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis and in 1951 recorded with Gillespie bandmates Lewis, Clarke and Brown. Inspired by that recording, they reformed as the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1952 with Percy Heath replacing Ray Brown and Connie Kay taking the drum chair after the departure of Kenny Clarke in 1955. For the following 50 years the sound of Milton “Bags” Jackson's vibraphone would signature the Modern Jazz Quartet and inspire generations of followers. Jackson's impassioned improvisations and compositions, including “Bluesology” and “Bag's Groove,” helped define the MJQ sound. Jackson recorded many splendid dates as a leader, including, The Ballad Artistry Of Milt Jackson, Ballads And Blues and Big Band Bags, and worked with many jazz immortals, including John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Ray Charles and Quincy Jones. In '99 he fronted an exciting album date with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Explosive! (Qwest). He died in 1999.

https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/milt-jackson

Tabs

Characterized by a slower vibrato than his predecessors, Milt Jackson's ability to swing and to create vocal-like inflections made his an instantly recognizable sound on the vibes. Another jazz musician whose earliest experience was in the church, he sang gospel duets with his brother and played the guitar. At age 11, he began playing the piano, moving to the xylophone and the vibes in his early teens. After studying music at Michigan State University, his musical career actually began with a touring gospel ensemble in the early 1940s. Upon hearing him in Detroit, Dizzy Gillespie arranged for Jackson, known by the nickname "Bags," to come to New York in 1945 to join his band. After leaving Gillespie's pioneering bebop big band in 1948, he went on to play with Howard McGhee, Thelonious Monk, Tadd Dameron, and Charlie Parker, applying the bebop sound to the vibes.

He replaced Terry Gibbs in the Woody Herman band during 1949-50, returning to the Gillespie band from 1950-52. Thereafter he formed his own quartet, featuring John Lewis, Ray Brown, and Kenny Clarke. The Milt Jackson Quartet then became the Modern Jazz Quartet, with Percy Heath replacing Brown, and Connie Kay eventually replacing Clarke. The MJQ would become an enduring jazz institution for more than 40 years, with Jackson's blues-drenched solos being a crucial ingredient in their sound. When the MJQ wasn't touring, Jackson occasionally led bands featuring Jimmy Heath and Ray Brown and worked on recording sessions that included Cannonball Adderley and Ray Charles.

He left the MJQ in 1974, leading his own groups or playing with all-star aggregations until 1981, when the MJQ reunited for a concert in Japan. Following that concert, the quartet made annual tours from 1982 through the early 1990s. For most of the remainder of his career he worked with his own groups, which often included such musicians as Mickey Roker, Bob Cranshaw, and Mike LeDonne.

The winner of numerous jazz polls, Jackson's vibe-playing dominated the field for much of his career, leading to his induction into the Percussion Hall of Fame and DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, among other honors.

Selected Discography

Modern Jazz Quartet, MJQ, Original Jazz Classics, 1954-56 Plenty, Plenty Soul, Atlantic, 1957 Bags Meets Trane, Atlantic, 1959 Milt Jackson + Count Basie + The Big Band, Vol. 1 & 2, Original Jazz Classics, 1978 Sa Va Bella, Warner Brothers, 1996

https://miltjackson.jazzgiants.net/biography/

Biography

Milton “Bags” Jackson was born on January 1,1923 in Detroit, Michigan and passed away on October 9, 1999 in New York City.

Milt came from a family of six children. Milt’s mother was a pious woman who was a devout member of the church, and his father was a talented amateur musician. In his early years, Milt sang in church and realized from an early age that music had a powerful effect on him.

When Jackson was seven years old he began to study the guitar. At age eleven, he began to play the piano as well. Upon entering Miller High School, Milt began to play the drums, xylophone and sing in the school’s glee club. When he was sixteen years old, Milt’s music teacher Mr. Goldberg persuaded the young man to give the vibraphone a try. Through his teens, Jackson gained valuable performing experience in a local gospel and dance groups.

At the time, Jackson had few idols on the vibraphone, following the examples instead set by the leading horn players involved in modern jazz. Milt had seen Lionel Hampton at Detroit venues such as the Michigan State Fairgrounds and the Graystone Ballroom, which further motivated him to study the vibes. However, while Jackson appreciated Hampton’s accomplishments, he chose not to emulate him but rather to find his own voice on the instrument. Milt found his inspiration in the burgeoning bebop movement, and wished to play the vibes like the innovators of bebop.

In 1942, Jackson was drafted into the military, which derailed his plans to join the band of pianist Earl Hines. Milt returned to Detroit in 1944 after being discharged from the military and formed an ensemble entitled The Four Sharps, which featured pianist Willie Anderson, bassist Miller Clover and guitarist Emmit Flay.

In The Four Sharps, Jackson was a multi-instrumentalist performing on guitar, piano vibes and singing as well. Around this time, Milt received the nickname Bags, which he was given due to the bags under his eyes after his late night partying. During the 1940s, Detroit was receiving a lot of attention in the jazz community with its vibrant roster of talent including saxophonist Teddy Edwards, trumpeter Howard McGhee, bassist Al McKibbon, and drummer Elvin Jones.

In 1945, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie hired Jackson for an engagement at the Billy Berg’s club in Los Angeles. Dizzy discovered Milt at a jam session in Detroit and was struck by his technical prowess. Milt became a member of the group as a probable replacement for alto saxophonist Charlie Parker,who was erratic at best in his ability to show up for gigs. Milt received a lot of exposure upon joining the Gillespie group and helped the group become the era’s leading modern jazz ensemble.

Jackson joined the Gillespie group for an engagement at the Spotlite club in New York City in March of 1945. Also in the group were bassist Ray Brown, pianist Al Haig and drummer Stan Levey. While the group’s personnel changed over the next months, Jackson remained a trusted member of the group. Jackson would later state that Gillespie’s philosophy on music and life offered a more evolved mindset in the progression of jazz.

Two months after the engagement at the Spotlite, Jackson played piano on the group’s big band recording of composer Tadd Dameron’s Our Delight and played vibes on the song Things To Come. The following year, Milt joined the group on Anthropology, A Night In Tunisia, and 52 Street Theme, which have since become jazz standards. Jackson also recorded Oop Bop Sh’Bam, That’s Earl, and One Bass Hit with former Gillespie saxophonist and drummer Kenny Clarke.

In 1947, Jackson left the Gillespie group and began a professional relationship with pianist Thelonious Monk. With Monk, Milt recorded steadily for Blue Note over the next two years. Accompanied by bassist John Simmons and drummer Shadow Wilson, Jackson and Monk recorded the songs Evidence, Mysterioso, Epistrohy, and I Mean You in 1948. A few years later, Jackson and Monk recorded Ask Me Now, Criss Cross, Four In One and with McKibbon and drummer Art Blakey.

In 1949, Jackson joined bandleader Woody Herman and began touring with him. Along with Herman’s small ensemble, The Woodchoppers, Milt performed at the Tropicana in Havana, Cuba. After the audience was left indifferent by the ensemble’s contemporary repertoire, Woody asked Milt to play some popular standards in order to appease the audience.

From 1951 to 1952, Milt began to record with Gillespie where he met guitarist Kenny Burrell. The rhythm section of Gillespie’s band included Brown, pianist John Lewis and drummer Kenny Clarke. The four men soon left the Gillespie group and formed their own group entitled The Modern Jazz Quartet also known as the MJQ.

In 1952, Percy Heath replaced Brown as the MJQ’s bassist, and the band began to perform. Lewis acted as the band’s musical director who began to write songs that easily blended jazz with classical-based sensibilities, which acted as a great contrast to the more blues-based songs that Milt would write.

All through the 1950s, Jackson performed with the MJQ and simultaneously recorded as a solo artist. Milt collaborated with saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Jimmy Heath and trumpeters Art Farmer and Harry “Sweets” Edison. In 1954, Milt appeared on trumpeter Miles Davis’s album Bag’s Groove, which took the vibist’s nickname, “Bags,” for its title.

In 1959, Milt and saxophonist John Coltrane recorded the album Bags And Trane, Featuring pianist Hank Jones, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Connie Kay, the album would be the only joint venture between the two men. On Three Little Words, Coltrane influences Jackson as evident by the harmonic complexity during his solos. The two men truly complement each other and achieve a perfect balance between the two instruments.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Milt continued to collaborate with several artists including pianist Ray Charles. In 1961, Milt recorded the album Bags Meets Wes! withguitarist Wes Montgomery, pianist Wynton Kelly and drummer Philly Joe Jones.

In 1962, the MJQ released the album Lonely Woman on Atlantic Records. The group took up the hard task of recording a cover of saxophonist Ornette Coleman’s Lonely Woman. The group does an excellent job of reinterpreting the song, with Milt adding subtle nuances that changes the feel of the original while maintaining its original melodic motifs.

In 1972, Jackson released the album Sunflower on the Columbia/Legacy label. The album featured the top talent of the time including trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Herbie Hancock,bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Cobham. On People Make The World Go -Round, Milt employs several sophisticated lines that fit perfectly with the funky feel of the song. With the addition of Carter’s and Hancock’s groove, Milt’s performance in all the more lively and infectious.

In 1974, the MJQ broke up with Milt citing financial difficulties as his reason. The breakup enabled Milt to follow his solo career. In 1975, Milt signed with Pablo Records and made numerous appearances at the Montreaux Jazz Festival. In 1978, Milt released the album Soul Believer, which featured his vocal skills.

In 1981, the MJQ reformed in order to do a tour of Japan. The group would continue to perform throughout the 1990s, though the death of Connie Kay held them back from active touring. In 1983, Milt joined Ray Brown, trombonist J.J. Johnson, pianist Tom Ranier, guitarist John Collins, and drummer Roy McCurdy on the album Jackson, Johnson, Brown & Company, which was a critical success. In 1994, Milt released The Prophet Speaks, which featured pianist Cedar Walton and drummer Billy Higgins.

Milt received of several awards throughout his career. He received an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music, and was inducted into the Percussion Hall of Fame in 1996 and Down Beat Magazine’s Hall of Fame in 1999.

Jackson spent his final years still actively performing and recording. In 1999, Milt recorded with the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra resulting in the album Explosive! Milt passed away on October 9, 1999 from liver cancer, and was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York.

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/11/arts/milt-jackson-76-jazz-vibraphonist-dies.html

Milt Jackson, 76,

Jazz Vibraphonist, Dies

by Ben Ratliff

October 11, 1999

New York Times

Milt Jackson, the jazz vibraphonist who was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet for 40 years and was one of the premier improvisers in jazz with a special brilliance at playing blues, died on Saturday at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. He was 76 and lived in Teaneck, N.J.

The cause was liver cancer, said his daughter, Chyrise Jackson.

All the best jazz musicians know how to take their time, and Mr. Jackson was no different. Originally a singer in a Detroit gospel quartet, he created a new sound in the 1940's by slowing down the motor on his Deagan Vibraharp's oscillator to a third of the speed of Lionel Hampton's; a result, when he chose to let a sustained note ring, was a rich, warm, smoky sound, with a vibrato that approximated his own singing.

''He came closer than anyone else on the instrument to making it sound like the human voice,'' said the young vibraphonist Stefon Harris yesterday. ''It's a collection of metal and iron, and we don't have the ability to bend notes and make vocal inflections like a saxophone. But Milt played the instrument in the most organic way possible -- with a warm, rich sound. He set a precedent that this instrument can speak beautiful things, and that it's not just percussive.''

Mr. Jackson, who was born in Detroit, had become an impressively broad musician by the middle of his teen-age years. He had perfect pitch, and he began teaching himself guitar at the age of 7, started piano lessons at 11 and in high school played five instruments: drums, tympani, violin, guitar and xylophone; he also sang in the choir. By the age of 16, he had picked up the vibraphone as well, encouraged by a music teacher, and sang tenor in a popular gospel quartet called the Evangelist Singers as well as beginning his jazz career, playing vibraphone with Clarence Ringo and the George E. Lee band.

Out of high school, he almost joined Earl Hines's big band, but his draft notice intervened. In 1944, back in Detroit after two years of overseas military service, he set up a jazz quartet called the Four Sharps. (He admitted that he got his nickname, Bags, from the temporary furrows under his eyes incurred by a drinking binge after his release from the Army.) Dizzy Gillespie saw the quartet at a Detroit bar on a swing through the Midwest, and called upon Mr. Jackson in 1945 to join his band in New York.

Mr. Jackson's style, then and later, came from Charlie Parker, rather than Mr. Hampton, his most prominent precursor on the instrument; he not only tried to achieve a hornlike legato with his mallets, but he adopted many of Parker's rhythmic traits as well. He was the first bona fide bebop musician on the vibraphone, and became one of the prides of Gillespie's own band. Gillespie also brought him to Los Angeles to fill out his sextet at Billy Berg's club, hedging against the probability that Parker, who was in the band and at the low point of his heroin addiction, would fail to show up.

Back in New York in 1946, Mr. Jackson recorded some of bebop's classics with Gillespie's orchestra -- ''A Night in Tunisia,'' ''Anthropology'' and ''Two Bass Hit.'' Mr. Jackson, the pianist John Lewis, the bassist Ray Brown and the drummer Kenny Clarke were the rhythm section of Gillespie's band. ''Dizzy had a lot of high parts for the brass in that group,'' remembered Mr. Brown. ''So he said, 'I have to give these guys' lips a little rest during concerts, and while they're resting, you should play something.' '' The development of this rhythm section's relationship led to some recordings for Gillespie's own label, Dee Gee, by a new band known as the Milt Jackson Quartet.

Mr. Jackson left Gillespie and came back to him again for a period in the early 1950's. And in 1951, with Thelonious Monk, he made recordings that would further the idiom again, weaving his linear improvisations around Monk's abrupt, jagged gestures on pieces including ''Criss Cross'' and ''Straight, No Chaser.''

Mr. Lewis, the pianist, began to have ideas about forming a new group, one that would go beyond the notion of soloists with a rhythm section. He had an extensive knowledge of classical music, had been involved in the sessions with Miles Davis and Gerry Mulligan that would become known as ''Birth of the Cool,'' and he envisioned a more deliberately formal feeling for a small band. In 1952 the Modern Jazz Quartet began, with Clarke as drummer and Percy Heath as bassist. Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955. After a while, Mr. Lewis became the group's musical director.

The group wore tailored suits and practiced every aspect of their public presentation, from walking on stage to making introductions to the powerfully subdued arrangements in their playing. They wanted to bring back to jazz the sense of high bearing it had been losing as the popularity of the big bands was slipping and jazz became more of a music predicated on the casual jam-session. Through two decades of immaculately conceived and recorded albums on Atlantic Records, beginning in 1956, their vision was borne out. Initially, they found that audiences were somewhat startled by the authority of their quietness; eventually the group would be one of the few jazz bands embraced by an audience much wider than jazz fans.

Mr. Lewis economized, playing small chords and creating a light but sturdy framework for the music, and Mr. Jackson was the expansive foil, letting his tempos crest and fall, luxuriating in the passing tones and quick, curled runs of bebop. It was often supposed that he grew frustrated with his role in the band; in a recent interview Mr. Jackson said he felt that Mr. Lewis suppressed the group's sense of swing. In 1974 he left, dissolving the band until it reunited for the first of several tours in the 1980's. Mr. Kay died in 1994, and the Modern Jazz Quartet, with Mickey Roker sitting in for him, gave its last performance the following year.

Besides being widely acknowledged as one of the music's greatest improvisers, Mr. Jackson wrote a lot of music -- most famously the blues pieces ''Bags' Groove,'' ''Bluesology'' and ''The Cylinder.'' He recorded widely. He made small-group and orchestral records in the early 1960's, collaboration albums with John Coltrane and Ray Charles, and a large number of records on the Pablo label during the 1970's and 1980's with Mr. Brown on bass, as well as Gillespie, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson and others. In 1992 he began a series of albums produced by Quincy Jones for the Qwest label; the most recent, from this year, was ''Explosive!,'' recorded with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. The last collaboration with Mr. Brown and Mr. Peterson, ''The Very Tall Band,'' was issued this year by Telarc.

In addition to his daughter, of Fort Lee, N.J., he is survived by his wife, Sandra, of Teaneck, and three brothers: Alvin, of Queens, and Wilbur and James, both of Detroit.

A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 10, 1999, Section A, Page 17 of the National edition with the headline: Milt Jackson, 76, Jazz Vibraphonist, Dies. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Milt-Jackson

Milt Jackson

American musician

by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Milt Jackson, byname of Milton Jackson, also called 'Bags], (born January 1, 1923, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.—died October 9, 1999, New York, New York), American jazz musician, the first and most influential vibraphone improviser of the postwar, modern jazz era.

Jackson began playing the vibraphone (also called vibes or vibraharp) professionally at age 16. He attended Michigan State University and joined Dizzy Gillespie’s sextet in 1945; he then worked with Gillespie’s big band and later returned to play vibraphone and piano in Gillespie’s sextet (1950–52). He also freelanced with leading bop musicians in New York City and played in the Woody Herman band (1949–50). He was a cofounder of the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), which was his principal performance vehicle during 1952–74, and he subsequently played in numerous MJQ reunion tours. Meanwhile, he recorded often as sideman, including classic sessions with Thelonious Monk (“Evidence,” “Criss Cross,” “Straight, No Chaser”) and Miles Davis (“Bags’ Groove”), and as leader, including performances with top tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, and Lucky Thompson. He continued to tour and record in the 1990s; one of his last recordings was with jazz legends Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown, with whom Jackson had formed the Very Tall Band years earlier.

A fluent player with compelling swing who conceived in long lines of eighth and sixteenth notes, Jackson created an original style out of bebop’s advanced harmonies and irregular accenting. By manipulating his vibrato speed he achieved a unique depth and beauty of expression on the vibraphone, a traditionally “cold” instrument, adding special warmth to his playing of ballads and medium-tempo blues. Jackson brought to his musical settings a highly developed sensitivity to balance and contrast, which made much of his playing with the MJQ muted when compared with his aggressive work in his own groups.

https://aaregistry.org/story/detroits-own-jazz-great-milt-jackson/

Detroit’s own, jazz great Milt Jackson

Milt Jackson

Milt Jackson was born on this date in 1923. He was an African American jazz musician, the first and most influential vibes player of the modern jazz era.
He was born in Detroit. At age 16, Jackson began playing vibes or vibraphone professionally. He attended Michigan State University and joined Dizzy Gillespie's sextet in 1945; he then worked with Gillespie's big band and later returned to play vibes and piano in Gillespie's sextet from 1950 to 1952. During this time, he freelanced with leading bop musicians in New York City and played in the Woody Herman band.

Also called “BAGS,” Jackson was a cofounder of the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), which was his principal performance mouthpiece from 1952 to 1974. Meanwhile, he also recorded often as sideman, including classic sessions with Thelonious Monk--Evidence, Criss Cross, and Miles Davis Bags' Groove; and as leader, including sets with top tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, and Lucky Thompson.

Jackson’s fluent playing had an undeniable swing that is heard in long lines of eighth and sixteenth notes. He created an original style out of bebop's advanced harmonies and irregular beats. His sensitivity to balance and contrast made much of his playing with the MJQ gentle when compared with his aggressive work in his own groups.
Milt Jackson died in 1999.

Reference:

Jazz People
by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York
Copyright 1976
ISBN 0-8109-1152-3

https://jazztimes.com/archives/milt-jackson-elegant-vibrations/

Milt Jackson: Elegant Vibrations

by Josef Woodard

September 1, 1999

JazzTimes

Some sounds in jazz come at you like a wise, warmhearted friend, with a characteristic voice particular to the musician and integral to the general definition of jazz. Case in point: the rich, supple sound of Milt Jackson at his vibes. Into the relatively slender ranks of important voices on the vibraphone, the venerable Jackson makes his distinctive presence known. It’s in the way he shapes a phrase, and his subtle use of the speed control on his instrument’s vibrato, giving his sound a vocal quality. In short, in the lineage of jazz history, Jackson is the guy who put the vibe in the vibes.
Two years back, he could be heard in an amicable dueling-vibes concert at the Montreal Jazz Festival, with Gary Burton, the titan from a later generation. It was a fascinating, revealing meeting of the minds and hands, Burton with his nimble four-mallet style and Jackson with his warm, amber-toned approach.
And now, in a music store or radio near you, the Milt Jackson sound is identifiable at a sonic glance, on the new Clayton-Hamilton big band album Explosion (Qwest). Jackson settles easily into his first big band recording in years, partly thanks to the smart surroundings, the assured arranging of John Clayton and the time-honed cohesion of the band. “That band has been together for 14 years,” Jackson says, from his home in New Jersey, just returning from Europe. “That’s one of the reasons the band sounds so good. When a band’s been together that long, they can’t help but sound good.”
To prepare for the recording, last summer the band and their honored guest played a few nights at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, where the band is based. The set list includes revisited, freshly arranged standards, from “Evidence” to “Since I Fell for You,” a Clayton original dedicated to Jackson, “Revibal Meeting,” and three Jackson originals.
As Jackson says of his original, which closes the set, “‘Recovery’ is a special dedication to my doctor who did my surgery, which was very successful. I loved that. ‘Major Deagan’ has to do with the Deagan Expressway, in New York. Also, that’s the company that made my instrument, the one I use all the time. It’s also dedicated to Dan Forte, more or less the publicity agent for the Blue Note. ‘Bags’ Groove’ is my all-time classic, I guess you could say. Oh man, the arrangement John did on that just blew everybody away.”
History is woven into the fabric of this album, right down to “Bags’ Groove,” the classic Jackson original opening the album. Bags is one of Jackson’s nicknames acquired in the line of musical duty. “The history of that goes back to 1944, when I came out of the service. When I came home, I went to every nightclub in Detroit. I’m playing catch-up here. I guess I developed these bags under the eyes, you know, the old-lady thing. I had a group called the Four Sharps, and the bass player was kind of a comedian, like Mickey Roker (Jackson’s drummer of long-standing). That bass player was actually responsible for that name.
“About twenty years later, I got a brand new nickname, the Reverend. That was coming from Jimmy Heath and Mickey Roker, because they thought that I needed a name to cover three special things: one is playing music, another is making pastry, and the third is billiards. Mickey is also a great pool player. That’s how those nicknames came about.”
Jackson’s musical background goes back to a Detroit youth spent trying out various instruments, including the oldest one around. “I was a singer in a gospel quartet, and also did gospel duets with my oldest brother, while I played the guitar. That was my first instrument. From seven to 16, that’s all I did, gospel music. In ’39, I got my first set of vibes, and just went from there.
“The reason I started to play that instrument, and deserted all the others-including the singing-was that I discovered that the instrument had a vibrato and a speed control. When I found out I could use that to match my voice, that was it. I was totally fascinated by that. I put all the other instruments down and concentrated on that one. I was also playing piano at the time.”
A helpful early skill was Jackson’s experience playing drums, enhancing his sense of stick coordination and rhythmic expression. “What stopped me back then from playing the drums is that I’m left-handed. Books and things written for drummers are basically written for right-handed players. Also, I tried to switch from left to right, which was a mistake. I didn’t have the coordination. The vibes was another thing. I just got so fascinated with that, I just more or less forgot about the drums.
“I still play the piano, for my own pleasure on occasion, or when I want to write something. But, having perfect pitch, I didn’t really need the use of a piano for that. It was only for myself and to keep my chops up, so to speak. I don’t play it now at all, actually. I just play the one instrument. My father always ‘if you’ve got one thing you really like, concentrate on that and don’t be a jack-of-all-trades.’ That’s a philosophy that I’ve always followed.”
There was also a practical matter of pursuing perceived opportunity. “See, in high school, there was less competition. Everybody wanted to play the saxophone, drums, and piano. I thought ‘well, I’ve got an open field here. I’ll get into this and be all by myself.’ I thought that was pretty smart.”
The swing era was wending to a close as Jackson was in his teens, so the work of early vibists Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo wasn’t much of an influence, except in terms of knowing what direction not to take. “I landed right in the middle of the bebop movement,” Jackson recalls. “I didn’t want to play like either Hamp or Red, but wanted to find my own style. I was locked into the style that Dizzy and Bird created, and that’s how I really got in on the ground floor of that movement.”
Like many musicians of the day and since, Jackson found himself entranced by the sound of Charlie Parker. “My first two recordings of Bird were ‘Hothouse’ and ‘Lady Be Good.’ I didn’t really have a good record player at that time, so I would put the record in the jacket, take it to the house of a friend with a good record player, and then I’d sit there all day and play it. I was so fascinated by that. That solo on ‘Lady Be Good’ is still a classic. I was just in heaven. I just couldn’t believe something so fascinating, at that time.”
Even still, if Jackson was the vibist-of-choice in the bebop scene, his heart wasn’t so much in the aspect of that music that embraces speed and complexity as he was onto something slow and soulful. That instinct also related back to his discovery of the throbbing sensuality of the speed control on the instrument, especially conducive to ballad playing.
He admits, “as I said, when I discovered I could make that sound, imitating the voice, I thought, ‘This is it.’ Even though we played all the fast music with Dizzy and Bird, my forte was still playing ballads. I love playing ballads more than anything, and when I found that sound, that was it.”
You can hear that balladic grace and cool on the new album, on his subtle reading of “The Nearness of You.” “There’s a real emotional content in playing ballads. And for me, being a singer and learning the words as well, that helps me in putting a concept together. Every time I’m playing the instrument, I’m really singing.”
Coming out of Dizzy’s band in the early ’50s, Jackson was to land in a group which had an uncommon longevity, the Modern Jazz Quartet. Except for a hiatus from 1974-1981, they plugged along, defining a ’50s-based sense of cool and sophistication, until their official retirement in 1996.

MJQ’s well-known scheme of blending jazz with classical influences wasn’t apparent at the beginning. It was an idea dear to the heart of the classically trained Lewis. “John had a game plan, but we didn’t know what it was at the time. He started writing music and shaping it through the influence of Bach the first two years that Kenny Clarke was with the quartet, and that was the reason he left. He did not want to conform to that style of playing, because he’s too much of a swinger. I don’t blame him. I mean, if I had really known what John was going to do at that time, I don’t think I would have stayed as long.

“My original roots are in gospel music and into jazz. I didn’t have that much knowledge about Bach, except from when I was a classical musician playing in the symphony orchestra. I played tympani. In that period, I did learn a bit of classical music. I stayed because I thought ‘well, this is a challenge. I’ll stick with it for awhile.’ And that wound up being 44 years. Well, I’ll tell you one thing, I have to give the Modern Jazz Quartet credit for weaving the classics and jazz together, the way we did. No other group could do that.”

Throughout the years, and alongside the MJQ saga, Jackson has maintained his solo career, on record and onstage. Before settling in his current label home on Qwest, for which he has made several fine projects in the ’90s, Jackson had worked for a wide spectrum of labels, covering the expanse of jazz history. “Riverside was memorable to me, because that was Orrin Keepnews’ label. I did a big band album with him, with Tadd Dameron and Ernie Wilkins. That’s one of my favorite albums. On Atlantic, I guess one of my favorite albums would be the first time I recorded with strings. The second time I did it was with the late Jimmy Jones.”

Even for the popularity of Jackson over the decades and a few others, including Burton, the vibes remain somewhat of a fringe tool in the jazz arsenal of instruments. The young wunderkind at the moment, who is helping to give the instrument a boost in public visibility, is Stefon Harris. “I like his concept,” Jackson says. “Steve Nelson is another one. Dave Pike is another. But that’s it. You mentioned those and you’ve covered the gamut of today’s young players.”

Venerable but vibrant, Jackson is going strong, continuing to tour, with his own small group and now the occasional big band date, and making plans for future projects. That classic Jackson sound is alive and well throughout the world. “This year, going back all the way to my gospel days, I’m celebrating 60 years of music. 60 years,” he stretches out the syllables in wonderment. Any retirement plans? “No, I’ve never thought about it, until I’m physically unable to perform. That’s when I’ll think about giving it up.”

Did he imagine, as a youth, carrying on with music as long or as successfully as he has thus far? “I had no idea how far I would go. I never really thought about that. I was just into playing music. Fate takes you in the direction that you should go.”

https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/oct/12/guardianobituaries1

Milt Jackson

Master jazz musician who gave the vibraphone new subtlety

by Ronald Atkins

The vibraphone and jazz came together in the 1930s, thanks mainly to Lionel Hampton. Milt Jackson, who has died of liver cancer aged 76, added the subtleties of bebop and brought new sensibilities to the instrument. Throughout the 1950s, he so dominated the scene with his improvisation that the momentum kept him high in the polls for the rest of his life.
Among the first of a flood of important jazz musicians from Detroit, Jackson played guitar, piano and various percussion instruments before being introduced to the vibraphone in high school. After wartime military service, his playing so impressed Dizzy Gillespie that the trumpeter took him on in 1945; later Jackson became a member of Gillespie's first ground-breaking orchestra.

Early recordings did not always do him justice, and there were references to Jackson's "milk-bottle sound". In fact, he was already developing his characteristic trademark by slowing the speed at which the instrument's notes rang. Exposure to Charlie Parker and other bebop musicians helped him perfect a style less obviously driven than the pungent attack linked to Hampton and other pioneers.
By comparison, Jackson was more supple: grace notes abounded and his undulating phrases were often shaded dynamically, the rhythmic emphasis changing as he gave certain notes extra weight. Other than several records under Gillespie's name, including versions of Night In Tunisia and Oop Bop Sh'Bam, his most significant contribution to the jazz of the 1940s came as part of a quartet recorded on Blue Note under the leadership of Thelonious Monk. The blend of Jackson's pliant, but still percussive, phrasing with Monk's blunt, corrosive chords - on such numbers as Mysterioso and Epistrophy - still causes frissons of delight.
In the early 1950s, by which time Jackson's style had fully matured, they did it again on Criss Cross, Straight No Chaser and on Willow Weep For Me, which remain among the first of the vibraphonist's great ballad features.

Around this time, Jackson wrote his best-known blues - Bluesology and Bags' Groove (so-called after his nickname, "Bags", inspired by the pouches under his eyes) - and occasionally gigged with such former colleagues as John Lewis, Ray Brown and Kenny Clarke. A Milt Jackson Quartet was formed and, after a few years (with Percy Heath taking over bass from Brown, and Connie Kay replacing Clarke on drums), it kept the initials but changed into the Modern Jazz Quartet. Jackson contributed a few pieces, but it was Lewis who wrote or picked most of their material and provided the arrangements.

Intricate and more tightly controlled than one expected to hear from just four musicians, these were typified in the MJQ's early years by the fugue-like and blatantly European-influenced Vendome, Concorde and Versailles. Together with such pieces as Django, Lewis's beautiful tribute to Django Reinhardt, these helped to make the MJQ one of the most internationally acclaimed jazz groups in the world.
Jackson recorded throughout the 1950s under his own name, displaying his unrivalled mastery of ballads and blues on several outstanding albums. These were sometimes used as critical ammunition by hardcore jazz fans, who disliked the MJQ, regarding both music and presentation as selling out. Reversing the trend of jazz musicians to dress informally for gigs, the group invariably turned up in matching ties and jackets.

With his quiet and almost exaggeratedly unhip demeanour, Lewis fitted the role of scapegoat, and there were soon mutterings about Jackson's unhappiness at being kept on a leash. Some of this may have been true, but you don't need much hindsight to see that staying with the MJQ was his best career move. An instinctive soloist, Jackson never showed vision as a leader beyond replaying his favourites. There was also an unmissable stylistic contrast between Lewis's fastidiousness and Jackson's elaborate phrases that few pianists other than Monk or Horace Silver could have provided. The moment when fugue or intricate interplay comes to an end, and Jackson unwinds, as if released from chains, never fails to rock listeners on their heels.

After 20 years, Jackson finally made the break, saying he wanted to do more under his own steam. Although other vibraphonists with different approaches, including the rhythmically aggressive Bobby Hutcherson and the four-mallet virtuoso Gary Burton, had arrived, Jackson's formidable musical reputation enabled him to work and record at will with his peers, something he continued to the end.

In between, the money and prestige of jazz was becoming increasingly tied to festivals and international tours that often involved special projects. Pressures of this kind contributed to the MJQ's rebirth in the early 1980s, after which they united occasionally on demand.

Milt Jackson is survived by his wife Sandra and his daughter.
•
Milt Jackson, jazz musician, born January 1 1923; died October 9 1999

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milt_Jackson

Milt Jackson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jackson in New York, ca. 1947

Milton "Bags" Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999) was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with several hard bop and post-bop players.

A very expressive player, Jackson differentiated himself from other vibraphonists in his attention to variations on harmonics and rhythm. He was particularly fond of the twelve-bar blues at slow tempos. He preferred to set the vibraphone's oscillator to a low 3.3 revolutions per second (as opposed to Lionel Hampton's speed of 10 revolutions per second) for a more subtle tremolo. On occasion, Jackson sang and played piano professionally.^{[citation needed]}

Biography

Jackson was born on January 1, 1923 in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Manley Jackson and Lillie Beaty Jackson. Like many, he was surrounded by music from an early age, particularly that of religious meetings: "Everyone wants to know where I got that funky style. Well, it came from church. The music I heard was open, relaxed, impromptu soul music" (quoted in Nat Hentoff's liner notes to Plenty, Plenty Soul). He started on guitar when he was seven, then on piano at 11.^[1]

While attending Miller High School, he played drums in addition to timpani and violin and also sang in the choir. At 16, he sang professionally in a local touring gospel quartet called the Evangelist Singers. He took up the vibraphone at 16 after hearing Lionel Hampton play the instrument in Benny Goodman's band. Jackson was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie, who hired him for his sextet in 1945, then his larger ensembles. Jackson quickly acquired experience working with the most important figures in jazz of the era, including Woody Herman, Howard McGhee, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker.^{[citation needed]}

In the Gillespie big band, Jackson fell into a pattern that led to the founding of the Modern Jazz Quartet: Gillespie maintained a former swing tradition of a small group within a big band, and his included Jackson, pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Kenny Clarke (considered a pioneer of the ride cymbal timekeeping that became the signature for bop and most jazz to follow) while the brass and reeds took breaks. When they decided to become a working group in their own right, around 1950, the foursome was known at first as the Milt Jackson Quartet, becoming the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) in 1952. By that time Percy Heath had replaced Ray Brown.^{[citation needed]}

Known at first for featuring Jackson's blues-heavy improvisations almost exclusively, in time the group came to split the difference between these and Lewis's more ambitious musical ideas (Lewis had become the group's musical director by 1955, the year Clarke departed in favour of Connie Kay), boiling the quartet down to a chamber jazz style that highlighted the lyrical tension between Lewis's mannered, but roomy, compositions and Jackson's unapologetic swing.^{[citation needed]}

The MJQ had a long independent career of some two decades until disbanding in 1974, when Jackson split with Lewis. The group reformed in 1981, however, and continued until 1993, after which Jackson toured alone, performing in various small combos, although agreeing to periodic MJQ reunions. From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Jackson recorded for Norman Granz's Pablo Records, including Jackson, Johnson, Brown & Company (1983), featuring Jackson with J. J. Johnson on trombone, Ray Brown on bass, backed by Tom Ranier on piano, guitarist John Collins, and drummer Roy McCurdy.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989, Jackson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.^[2]

His composition "Bags' Groove" is a jazz standard ("Bags" was a nickname given to him by a bass player in Detroit. "Bags" referred to the bags under his eyes).^[3] He was featured on the NPR radio program Jazz Profiles. Some of his other signature compositions include "The Late, Late Blues" (for his album with Coltrane, Bags & Trane), "Bluesology" (an MJQ staple), and "Bags & Trane".^{[citation needed]}

Jackson died of liver cancer in Manhattan, at the age of 76.^[4] He was married to Sandra Whittington from 1959 until his death; the couple had a daughter.^[4]^[5]

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Milt Jackson among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.^[6]

Discography

Jackson at

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay, California, 1980s.

1948: Howard McGhee and Milt Jackson (Savoy [1955]) with Howard McGhee
1948–52: Wizard of the Vibes (Blue Note)
1952: Milt Jackson (Blue Note)^[7]
1949–56: Roll 'Em Bags (Savoy)
1949–56: Meet Milt Jackson (Savoy)
1955: Milt Jackson Quartet (Prestige)
1956: Opus de Jazz (Savoy)
1956: Ballads & Blues (Atlantic)
1956: The Jazz Skyline (Savoy)
1956: Jackson's Ville (Savoy)
1957: Plenty, Plenty Soul (Atlantic)
1957: Bags & Flutes (Atlantic)
1958: Soul Brothers – with Ray Charles (Atlantic)
1959: Bean Bags – with Coleman Hawkins (Atlantic)
1959: Bags' Opus (United Artists)
1960: Bags & Trane – with John Coltrane (Atlantic)
1960: The Ballad Artistry of Milt Jackson (Atlantic)
1961: Soul Meeting – with Ray Charles (Atlantic)
1961: Vibrations (Atlantic)
1961: Very Tall – with Oscar Peterson Trio (Verve)
1961: Statements (Impulse!)
1961: Bags Meets Wes! – with Wes Montgomery (Riverside)
1962: Big Bags (Riverside)
1962: Invitation (Riverside)
1962: For Someone I Love (Riverside)
1963: Milt Jackson Quintet Live at the Village Gate (Riverside)
1964: Much in Common with Ray Brown (Verve)
1964: Jazz 'n' Samba (Impulse!)
1964: I/We Had a Ball (Limelight) - 1 track + 3 with Quincy Jones
1964: In a New Setting (Limelight)
1965: Ray Brown / Milt Jackson with Ray Brown (Verve)
1965: Milt Jackson at the Museum of Modern Art (Limelight)
1966: Born Free (Limelight)
1968: Milt Jackson and the Hip String Quartet (Verve)
1969: That's the Way It Is featuring Ray Brown (Impulse!)
1969: Just the Way It Had to Be featuring Ray Brown (Impulse!)
1969: Memphis Jackson with the Ray Brown Big Band (Impulse!)
1971: Reunion Blues with Oscar Peterson
1972: Sunflower (CTI)
1972: Cherry with Stanley Turrentine (CTI)
1973: Goodbye with Hubert Laws (CTI)
1974: Olinga (CTI)
1975: The Milt Jackson Big 4 (Pablo)
1975: The Big 3 with Joe Pass and Ray Brown (Pablo)
1976: Milt Jackson at the Kosei Nenkin (Pablo)
1976: Feelings (Pablo)
1977: Quadrant with Joe Pass, Ray Brown, and Mickey Roker
1977: Soul Fusion (Pablo)
1979: Milt Jackson (Quintessence Jazz Series) (Pickwick)
1979: Loose Walk (Palcoscenico)
1980: Night Mist (Pablo/OJC)
1981: Ain't But a Few of Us Left – with Oscar Peterson
1982: A London Bridge [live] (Pablo)
1982: Mostly Duke [live] (Pablo/OJC)
1982: Memories of Thelonious Sphere Monk (Pablo/OJC)
1983: Jackson, Johnson, Brown & Company – with J. J. Johnson
1983: Two of the Few with Oscar Peterson
1983: Soul Route (Pablo)
1993: Reverence and Compassion (Warner Bros.)
1994: The Prophet Speaks (Qwest)
1995: Burnin' in the Woodhouse
1998: The Very Tall Band with Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown (live from Blue Note)
1999: EXPLOSIVE! Milt Jackson Meets the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (Qwest/Warner Bros.)
2002: At the Kosei Nenkin vol. 2: Centerpiece (Pablo; mostly unissued tracks from the 1976 Japanese live session)

With the Modern Jazz Quartet

Jackson (left) in

Seattle, Washington, c. 1980

Vendome (1952, Prestige 851)
Modern Jazz Quartet, II (1954–55, Prestige 170) incl. "Django" (1954)
Concorde (1955, Prestige 7005)
Fontessa (1956, Atlantic 1231) including Versailles
The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays No Sun in Venice (Atlantic, 1957)
The Modern Jazz Quartet (Atlantic, 1957)
Third Stream Music (1957, 1959–60, Atlantic. 1345) including Sketch for Double String Quartet (1959)
The Modern Jazz Quartet and the Oscar Peterson Trio at the Opera House (Verve, 1957)
The Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn Volume 2 (Atlantic, 1958)
Music from Odds Against Tomorrow (United Artists, 1959)
Pyramid (Atlantic, 1960)
European Concert (Atlantic, 1960 [1962])
Dedicated to Connie (Atlantic, 1960 [1995])
The Modern Jazz Quartet & Orchestra (Atlantic, 1960)
The Comedy (1962, Atlantic 1390)
Lonely Woman (Atlantic, 1962)
A Quartet is a Quartet is a Quartet (1963, Atlantic 1420)
Collaboration (Atlantic, 1964) – with Laurindo Almeida
The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (Atlantic, 1964–65)
Jazz Dialogue (Atlantic, 1965) with the All-Star Jazz Band
Concert in Japan '66 (Atlantic [Japan], 1966)
Blues at Carnegie Hall (Atlantic, 1966)
Place Vendôme (Philips, 1966) – with The Swingle Singers
Under the Jasmin Tree (Apple, 1968)
Space (Apple, 1969)
Plastic Dreams (Atlantic, 1971)
The Legendary Profile (Atlantic, 1974)
In Memoriam (Little David, 1973)
Blues on Bach (Atlantic, 1973)
The Last Concert (Atlantic, 1974)
Reunion at Budokan 1981 (Pablo, 1981)
Together Again: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival '82 (Pablo, 1982)
Echoes (Pablo, 1984)
Topsy: This One's for Basie (Pablo, 1985)
Three Windows (Atlantic, 1987)
For Ellington (East West, 1988)
MJQ & Friends: A 40th Anniversary Celebration (Atlantic, 1992–93)

As sideman

With Cannonball Adderley

Things Are Getting Better (Riverside, 1958)

With Count Basie

Count Basie Jam Session at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975 (Pablo, 1975)

With Benny Carter

The King (Pablo, 1976)

With Kenny Clarke

Telefunken Blues (Savoy, 1955)

With Miles Davis

Bags' Groove (Prestige, 1954)
Quintet / Sextet (Prestige, 1955)

With Roy Eldridge

What It's All About (Pablo, 1976)

With Dizzy Gillespie

The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (Bluebird, 1937–1949, [1995])
Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions (Savoy, 1951–52 [1976])
The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 (Pablo, 1975)
Dizzy Gillespie Jam (Pablo, 1977)
Musician, Composer, Raconteur (Pablo, 1981)

With Quincy Jones

I/We Had a Ball (Limelight, 1965)

With Hank Mobley

Hank Mobley and His All Stars (Blue Note, 1957)

With Oscar Peterson

Reunion Blues (MPS, 1971)
The Oscar Peterson Big 6 at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975 (Pablo, 1975)

With Don Sebesky

Giant Box (CTI, 1973)

With Stanley Turrentine

Cherry (CTI, 1972)

References

Heckman, Don; Oliver, Myrna (October 12, 1999). "Milt Jackson; Vibraphonist With Modern Jazz Quartet". Los Angeles Times.
Mattingly, Rick. "Milt Jackson". PAS Hall of Fame. Percussive Arts Society. pas.org; retrieved March 25, 2018.
Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955–1965. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505869-0.
Ratliff, Ben (October 11, 1999). "Milt Jackson, 76, Jazz Vibraphonist, Dies". The New York Times.
Cotroneo, P. J. (January 2002). "Jackson, Milt". American National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1803666.
Rosen, Jody (June 25, 2019). "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2019.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/milt-jackson-blue-note-mw0000202886

External links

Milt Jackson at AllMusic
Milt Jackson at the Hard Bop Homepage
Milt Jackson: Round Midnight on YouTube

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/08/archives/milt-jackson-marks-first-40-years-in-jazz-22-years-with-the-quartet.html?searchResultPosition=8

Milt Jackson Marks First 40 Years in Jazz

by John S. Wilson

June 8, 1979

New York Times

See the article in its original context from
June 8, 1979, Section C, Page

IN 1939, when Milt Jackson was 16 years old, his father gave him $5 for the down payment on a vibraharp. This purchase changed Mr. Jackson from a gospel singer to a jazz musician, an event that will be celebrated tomorrow evening at an 8 o'—clock concert in Carnegie Hall honoring his 40th atunversary in jazz.

The concert, presented by Jazzmobile, with Dizzy Gillespie as a guest artist, will also point up Mr. Jackson's return to the singing career he gave up when he bought his vibraharp, and it may produce a reunion of the Modern Jazz Quartet, the group in which Mr. Jackson played for 22 years, until it broke up in 1974. (Tickets are $7, $9 and $10; telephone: 247‐7459.)

The reunion of the Modern Jazz Quartet depends on the availability of Percy Heath, the bassist. When Mr. Jackson decided to leave the group, he and Mr. Heath did not part on the best terms. Given the choice of replacing Mr. Jackson or forming another group, the remaining members — Mr. Heath, John Lewis, the quartet's pianist and musical director, and Connie Kay, the drummer — preferred to disband.

“The mutual feeling,” Mr. Jackson explained, “was that it was better to quit while the group was on top, as opposed to waiting until you're trying to find a job. I've been on very friendly terms with John and Connie since then. But Percy still has quite a bit of animosity and bitterness. I can't understand why, after five years.”

But Mr. Jackson is hoping that Mr. Heath will rejoin Mr. Lewis and Mr. Kay for this occasion.

‘22 Years With the Quartet’

“I'm looking forward to playing two tunes with the quartet — ‘Django’ and ‘Bag's Groove’ — to round out the first half of the program,” Mr. Jackson said. “I wouldn't want to use another bassist in place of Percy because the authenticity of the quartet is very important to me. Out of the 40 years that I've been playing jazz, I've spent 22 years with the quartet. That's a very important part of this event, and I would rather have it genuine.

Mr. Jackson's return to singing —last year he made a record as a singer called “Soul Believer” — ended a long period when he would often explain that his manner of playing ballads on the vibes came from that fact that “I'm really a frustrated singer.”

In fact, he started his professional career as a member of a gospel quartet, the Evangelist Singers, which did broadcasts every Sunday from Windsor, Ontario. When, with the help of his father's $5, he got his first set of vibes, Mr. Jackson abandoned gospel singing to join his brother Albert, a bassist, singing and playing jazz and popular music with a five‐piece band in nightclubs. The group, which at one time included the saxophonist Lucky Thompson, was, says Mr. Jackson, “pretty popular” around Detroit, his hometown, in 1939 and 1940.

With Gillespie Band In 40's

He also took up the piano and, when he moved to New York and joined Dizzy Gillespie's big ‘band in the mid‐1940's, he was playing both piano and vibes. But he was mindful of some words his father had drilled into him.

“Don't be a jack of all trades,” the elder Jackson had said. “If you like something, pursue one thing and try to be good at it.”

So when he left Mr. Gillespie's band, Milt Jackson put aside the Piano, gave up singing and extraneous instruments, such as drums and marimba, and concentrated on the vibes. For the next 30 years, while he established himself as the leading jazz vibraharpist of his generation, the possibility of singing professionally did not occur to him. But in the fall of 1977, he did a tour of Japan with the pianist Cedar Walton, an old friend.

“Cedar knew that I used to sing,” Mr. Jackson recalled. “A lot of times when we'd go out together after our concerts and sit in someplace, he'd coax me to sing. And eventually I just started to dolt.

“It wasn't difficult to pick it up after all those years,” he continued. “I always have had the natural gift of music. After you've had that, it never leaves. It's just a matter of singing every night, just like playing. It all comes back.”

Sings Some Old Standards

Some of the songs Mr. Jackson sings are old standards — “songs I've sung all my life.”

“One ‘of them is ‘Yes, Sir, That's My Baby,’ which I remember from Nat Cole's famous record,” he said. “And I put two of my own original songs on the record. I tried to get Sarah Vaughan to do them, tried to get Ella Fitzgerald to do them. But they were very busy. So decided to do them myself. And now I'm very glad that I did.”

At the concert, Mr. Jackson will perform with a quintet — the other four players are Jimmy Heath (Percy's brother) on tenor saxophone, Monty Alexander on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Mickey Roker on drums — and with a big band conducted by Ernie Wilkins. The big band will include several musicians who normally are leaders of their own groups but are taking the role of sideman for this occasion, among them the pianist Billy Taylor, the saxophonist Frank Foster and the trombonist Slide Hampton. Two members of the quintet — Mr. Alexander and Jimmy Heath — also regularly lead their own groups.

Why would they take these subordinate roles?

“I guess they like me,” Mr. Jackson admitted. To do this is the epitome of respect for any artist.”

https://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2016/05/the-milt-jackson-quartet-then-and-then.html

Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

The Milt Jackson Quartet, Then And Then

May 31, 2016

by Doug Ramsey

A video of The Modern Jazz Quartet has been getting wide viewership on the internet. The YouTube presentation does not disclose that the group we see and hear is the MJQ’s predecessor, the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie’s big band from 1946 to the early fifties. To give his brass section rests during concerts, Gillespie occasionally featured interludes with vibraharpist Milt Jackson, pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Kenny Clarke. They first recorded as an entity in 1951 as the Milt Jackson Quartet. After Percy Heath replaced Brown the following year the group changed its name to The Modern Jazz Quartet. When Clarke concentrated on freelancing around New York in 1955 and then moved to Paris, Connie Kay assumed the drum chair.

The group we see and hear in the video is the Milt Jackson Quartet reunited. History aside, the music is what matters. The four old friends are clearly delighted to be together, and something is amusing them during their performance of Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight.” The brief onscreen title in German near the beginning translates as “Jazz in a Christmas Night.” YouTube provides no information about where the concert was, or when. From the musicians’ appearances, my guess is that this was the 1990s. YouTube identifies the drummer as Heath, but it’s Clarke.

Here are Jackson, Lewis, Brown and Clarke forty years or so earlier, on August 24, 1951, with Jackson’s “Milt Meets Sid,” originally released on Gillespie’s Dee Gee label.

That performance and 22 other early Dee Gee and Savoy recordings by Jackson are in this album, some with guest artists including Kenny Dorham, Roy Haynes, Walter Benton and Julius Watkins.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Doug Ramsey is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Cleveland and Washington, DC. His writing about jazz has paralleled his life in journalism.

THE MUSIC OF MILT JACKSON: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MILT JACKSON: