PROGRESSIVE MUSIC COMPANY

AFRO-AMERICAN MUSIC INSTITUTE CELEBRATES 36 YEARS

BOYS CHOIR AFRICA SHIRTS
 
 
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/building-today-for-tomorrow/x/267428

 Pain Relief Beyond Belief

                         http://www.komehsaessentials.com/                              

 

PITTSBURGH JAZZ

 

From Blakey to Brown, Como to Costa, Eckstine to Eldridge, Galbraith to Garner, Harris to Hines, Horne to Hyman, Jamal to Jefferson, Kelly to Klook; Mancini to Marmarosa, May to Mitchell, Negri to Nestico, Parlan to Ponder, Reed to Ruther, Strayhorn to Sullivan, Turk to Turrentine, Wade to Williams… the forthcoming publication Treasury of Pittsburgh Jazz Connections by Dr. Nelson Harrison and Dr. Ralph Proctor, Jr. will document the legacy of one of the world’s greatest jazz capitals.

 

Do you want to know who Dizzy Gillespie  idolized? Did you ever wonder who inspired Kenny Clarke and Art Blakey? Who was the pianist that mentored Monk, Bud Powell, Tad Dameron, Elmo Hope, Sarah Vaughan and Mel Torme? Who was Art Tatum’s idol and Nat Cole’s mentor? What musical quartet pioneered the concept adopted later by the Modern Jazz Quartet? Were you ever curious to know who taught saxophone to Stanley Turrentine or who taught piano to Ahmad Jamal? What community music school trained Robert McFerrin, Sr. for his history-making debut with the Metropolitan Opera? What virtually unknown pianist was a significant influence on young John Coltrane, Shirley Scott, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Timmons and Ray Bryant when he moved to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh in the 1940s?  Would you be surprised to know that Erroll Garner attended classes at the Julliard School of Music in New York and was at the top of his class in writing and arranging proficiency?

 

Some answers  can be gleaned from the postings on the Pittsburgh Jazz Network.

 

For almost 100 years the Pittsburgh region has been a metacenter of jazz originality that is second to no other in the history of jazz.  One of the best kept secrets in jazz folklore, the Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy has heretofore remained mythical.  We have dubbed it “the greatest story never told” since it has not been represented in writing before now in such a way as to be accessible to anyone seeking to know more about it.  When it was happening, little did we know how priceless the memories would become when the times were gone.

 

Today jazz is still king in Pittsburgh, with events, performances and activities happening all the time. The Pittsburgh Jazz Network is dedicated to celebrating and showcasing the places, artists and fans that carry on the legacy of Pittsburgh's jazz heritage.

 

WELCOME!

 

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Duke Ellington is first African-American and the first musician to solo on U.S. circulating coin

    MARY LOU WILLIAMS     

            INTERVIEW

       In Her Own Words

Duffy Jackson, Ebullient Drummer with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie and Others, Dies at 67

Duffy Jackson, Ebullient Drummer with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie and Others, Dies at 67

  7 HOURS AGO

Duffy Jackson, a drummer whose swinging exuberance propelled him from child stardom to a prolific career behind Lionel Hampton, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and many others, died on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn. He was 67.

The cause was complications from hip surgery, Sandra Anton, his first cousin, tells WBGO.

Show business was a proud birthright for Jackson, who began to learn his craft before he was in grade school. His father, Chubby Jackson, was a bass player and bandleader who became a popular children’s television host, and Duffy earned a reputation as a boy wonder — initially through his appearances on Chubby Jackson's Little Rascals, which aired on ABC. At age 5, his picture appeared in DownBeat magazine, with a caption noting that “Duff, who has nicknamed himself Jazz Jackson, has only one ambition in life: to run away with Count Basie’s band.”

He realized that dream in his 20s, when he became the youngest member hired by Basie at the time. His bedrock time and tasteful embellishments were a natural fit for the band; here he is on the 1980 Pablo album Kansas City Shout, playing a tune cowritten by Basie and saxophonist Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson.

Basie’s was just one of the many swinging bands that Jackson played with over the years. He worked with saxophonists Benny Carter, Sonny Stitt and Illinois Jacquet, along with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and bassist Ray Brown. He also powered the band behind Sammy Davis, Jr. on network television for two years, and spent a year on tour with Lena Horne.

Among Jackson’s other close affiliations was one with Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander, beginning in the early 1970s with Here Comes the Sun. On that album’s title track, the Beatles hit by George Harrison, Jackson shows the ease with which he can hold down a funkier groove.

Still, Jackson considered himself something of a specialist. “I can play beautifully in a trio or whatever,” he said in a 2019 interview with the Nashville publication Music Mecca, “but when I’m in the driver’s seat of a big band, that’s where I can take you to places that you’ve probably never been before.”

Duff Clark Jackson was born on July 3, 1953 in Freeport, N.Y. The first indication of his musical talent came when he was a toddler, keeping time to records on a set of bongos. At 4, he began taking lessons with his first drum teacher — Don Lamond, who’d played alongside Chubby Jackson in the Woody Herman Orchestra. He also received encouragement from master big band drummers like Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson and Sonny Payne.

Jackson developed his precocious talent on the most public platform available at the time: by his own estimation, made 300 television appearances between the ages of 5 and 12. The primary outlet was his father’s Little Rascals show, airing in Chicago and New York. “My dad had access to the ABC local musicians on staff,” he recalled, “so at eight in the morning, you’d hear an 18-piece band swingin’ so hard. Now all the guys were all drunk or stoned or stayed up all night, but the thing is my dad had little kids dancing and singing in front of the band.”

CREDIT COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

The razzle-dazzle of an entertainer was always something Jackson could access musically, and in his later career he made it a trademark, as a drummer and a scat singer. Though there’s just one album under his name — Swing! Swing! Swing! on the Milestone label, made in the mid-‘90s — he was a seasoned bandleader, and a cornerstone of the jazz ecology in Nashville.

Jackson moved to Nashville in the late 2000s, from his previous home base in South Florida. He quickly found a niche in Music City — playing residencies at Rudy’s Jazz Room and Acme Feed and Seed; sitting in with the Time Jumpers at 3rd & Lindsley; and engaging with the Nashville Jazz Workshop, as both an instructor and a featured artist.

“Playing with Duffy felt like a glove,” pianist Lori Mechem, cofounder of the Nashville Jazz Workshop, tells WBGO. “His groove was infectious, and his sense of swing was flawless. He truly lived to play and loved everyone to the fullest.”

He is survived by his wife, Marina, and two sisters, Myno Tayloe and Jai Jackson.

Jackson often talked about his relationship to an audience in terms of crackling excitement. “Sometimes an audience will sit very quietly like an oil painting, and be subservient to the jazz musicians that demand your respect by not talking,” he told Music Mecca. “I want people to go nuts when I’m playing, as long as I can still hear myself. I want people to react.”

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Duffy Jackson

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Duffy Jackson
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Duff Clark "Duffy" Jackson (July 3, 1953 in Freeport, New York – March 3, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee)[1] was an American jazz drummer.

Career[edit]

Jackson is the son of Chubby Jackson, and played drums as a young child, making appearances with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, and Buddy Rich before he finished high school. In 1971 he relocated to Los Angeles, where he played with Monty Alexander, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Lena Horne, Milt Jackson, and Barney Kessel. Following a tour of Japan with Benny Carter, he appeared on television for two years with Sammy Davis, Jr. (1974–1976). Later in the 1970s he played with Grover Mitchell and did a tour of Europe with the Count Basie Orchestra.

In the 1980s Jackson worked with Lionel Hampton, Al Jarreau, James Moody, and Sonny Stitt, and in 1985 re-joined the Basie orchestra while Thad Jones was its leader. Following this he worked with Illinois Jacquet and Artie Shaw, then re-joined the Basie Orchestra under Frank Foster. In the 1990s, he relocated to Fort Lauderdale, where he played with Harry Allen, Billy Ross, and the Manhattan Transfer.

He died on March 3, 2021.[2]

Discography[edit]

As leader[edit]

  • Swing! Swing! Swing! (Milestone, 1995)

As sideman[edit]

With Monty Alexander

  • Here Comes the Sun (MPS/BASF, 1972)
  • Jamento (Pablo, 1978)
  • Look Up (Atlas, 1983)
  • Live at the Cully Select Jazz Festival 1991 (Limetree, 1991)

With Sonny Stitt

  • Sonny, Sweets & Jaws (Who's Who in Jazz, 1982)
  • Sonny's Blues (Who's Who in Jazz, 1983)
  • What's New (CMA, 1995)

With others

References[edit]

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