Milt Jackson


Milton Jackson, nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with 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. On occasion, Jackson also sang and played piano.

Biography

Jackson was born on January 1, 1923, in Detroit, Michigan, United States, the son of Manley Jackson and Lillie Beaty Jackson. Like many of his contemporaries, 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". He started on guitar when he was seven, and then on piano at 11.
While attending Miller High School, he played drums, 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.
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 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 in 1952. By that time Percy Heath had replaced Ray Brown.
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.
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, 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.
In 1989, Jackson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the Berklee College of Music.
His composition "Bags' Groove" is a jazz standard. He was featured on the NPR radio program Jazz Profiles. Some of his other signature compositions include "The Late, Late Blues", "Bluesology", and "Bags & Trane".
Jackson died of liver cancer in Manhattan, New York at the age of 76. He was married to Sandra Whittington from 1959 until his death; the couple had a daughter.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Recording dateTitleLabelYear releasedNotes
1948-02Howard McGhee and Milt JacksonSavoy1955with Howard McGhee
1948-07-02,
1951-07-23,
1952-04-07		Wizard of the Vibes
also released as Milt Jackson		Blue Note1952 with Thelonious Monk
1955-05-20Milt Jackson QuartetPrestige1955
1955-10-28Opus de JazzSavoy1956
1949-01-25,
1956-01-05		Roll 'Em BagsSavoy1956
1949-02-23,
1954-11-01,
1955-02-07,
1956-01-05		Meet Milt JacksonSavoy1956
1956-01-23The Jazz SkylineSavoy1956
1956-01-23Jackson's VilleSavoy1956
1956-01-17, -21,
1956-02-14		Ballads & BluesAtlantic1956
1957-01-05, -07Plenty, Plenty SoulAtlantic1957
1957-05-21,
1957-06-10, -17		Bags & FlutesAtlantic1957
1957-09-12,
1958-04-10		Soul BrothersAtlantic1958with Ray Charles
1958-04-10Soul MeetingAtlantic1961with Ray Charles
1958-09-12Bean BagsAtlantic1959with Coleman Hawkins
1958-12-28, -29Bags' OpusUnited Artists1959
1959-01-15Bags & TraneAtlantic1961with John Coltrane
1959-05-01,
1959-09-09, -10		The Ballad Artistry of Milt JacksonAtlantic1959
1960-02-23, -24,
1961-03-14		VibrationsAtlantic1964
1961-12-14, -15StatementsImpulse!1962
1961-12-18, -19Bags Meets Wes!Riverside1962with Wes Montgomery
1962-06-19, -20,
1962-07-05		Big BagsRiverside1962
1962-08-30,
1962-10-31,
1962-11-07		InvitationRiverside1963
1963-03-18,
1963-08-05		For Someone I LoveRiverside1966
1963-05-16, -17,
1963-12-20		Milt Jackson Quintet Live at the Village GateRiverside1967live
1964-01-13, -14Much in CommonVerve1964with Ray Brown
1964-08-06, -07Jazz 'n' SambaImpulse!1964
1964-12-09, -14, -28In a New SettingLimelight1965
1965-01-04, -05Ray Brown / Milt JacksonVerve1965with Ray Brown
1965-08-12Milt Jackson at the Museum of Modern ArtLimelight1965live
1966-12-15Born FreeLimelight1967
1968-05-09,
1968-06-03, -17		Milt Jackson and the Hip String QuartetVerve1968
1969-08-01, -02That's the Way It IsImpulse!1970live featuring Ray Brown
1969-08-01, -02Just the Way It Had to BeImpulse!1970live featuring Ray Brown
1969-10-09, -10Memphis JacksonImpulse!1970with the Ray Brown Big Band
1972-12-12, -13SunflowerCTI1973
1972-12,
1973-12		GoodbyeCTI1974with Hubert Laws
1974-01OlingaCTI1974
1975-07The Milt Jackson Big 4Pablo1975live
1975-08The Big 3Pablo1975with Joe Pass and Ray Brown
1976-03At The Kosei NenkinPablo1977 live
1976-03At the Kosei Nenkin vol. 2: CenterpiecePablo2002Posthumous release, mostly unissued tracks from the live session
1976-04FeelingsPablo1976
1977-02QuadrantPablo1977with Joe Pass, Ray Brown, and Mickey Roker
1977-06Soul FusionPablo1978with The Monty Alexander Trio
1977-07Montreux '77Pablo1977with Ray Brown
1979-11-11Loose WalkPalcoscenico1980with Sonny Stitt
1980-01-21All Too Soon: The Duke Ellington AlbumPablo1980with Ray Brown, Mickey Roker & Joe Pass
1980-04-14Night MistPablo/OJC1981
1981-11-30Ain't But a Few of Us LeftPablo1982with Oscar Peterson
1982-04-23, -24A London BridgePablo1988live
1982-04-23, -24Mostly DukePablo1991live
1982-04-28In London: Memories of Thelonious Sphere MonkPablo1982live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London
1983-01-20Two of the FewPablo1983with Oscar Peterson
1983-05-25, -26Jackson, Johnson, Brown & CompanyPablo1983with J. J. Johnson
1983-11-30,
1983-12-01		Soul RoutePablo1984
1988-03-28, -30BebopEastWest1988
1993Reverence and CompassionQwest/WB1993
1994?The Prophet SpeaksQwest/WB1994with Joshua Redman and Joe Williams
1995Burnin' in the WoodhouseQwest/WB1995
1997Sa Va Bella Qwest/WB1997
1998-06-09, -10Explosive!Qwest/WB1999with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
1998-11-24 – -26The Very Tall BandTelarc1999live at Blue Note with Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown

CompilationsI/We Had a Ball – rec. 1964All Star Bags – rec. 1952-1957Milt Jackson
  • ''The Best of Milt Jackson''

As leader of the Modern Jazz Quartet

Vendome Modern Jazz Quartet, II Concorde Fontessa The Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn The Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet and the Oscar Peterson Trio at the Opera House The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays No Sun in Venice – film score rec. 1957The Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn Volume 2 Music from Odds Against Tomorrow – soundtrackThird Stream Music – rec. 1959–1960, including Sketch for Double String Quartet Pyramid The Modern Jazz Quartet & Orchestra European Concert – liveThe Comedy – recorded in 1960-1962Lonely Woman A Quartet is a Quartet is a Quartet Collaboration with Laurindo Almeida The Modern Jazz Quartet Plays George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess – rec. 1964–1965Jazz Dialogue with the All-Star Jazz Band Concert in Japan '66 Blues at Carnegie Hall Place Vendôme with The Swingle Singers Under the Jasmin Tree – rec. 1967Space Plastic Dreams The Legendary Profile In Memoriam Blues on Bach – rec. 1973The Last Concert The Only Recorded Performance of Paul Desmond With The Modern Jazz Quartet with Paul Desmond – rec. 1971Reunion at Budokan 1981 Together Again: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival '82 Echoes Topsy: This One's for Basie Three Windows For Ellington MJQ & Friends: A 40th Anniversary Celebration – rec. 1992–1993Dedicated to Connie – live rec. 1960

As a member

As sideman

With Miles DavisQuintet / Sextet – rec. 1955Bags' Groove – rec. 1954Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants – rec. 1954–1956
With Dizzy GillespieThe Complete RCA Victor Recordings – rec. 1937–1949Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions – rec. 1951–1952The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 Dizzy Gillespie Jam Musician, Composer, Raconteur – rec. 1981
With Oscar PetersonVery Tall – rec. 1961Reunion Blues – rec. 1971The Oscar Peterson Big 6 at Montreux
With others