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Milt(on) Jackson Biography

byname of Milton Jackson , also called Bags

(1923 - 1999)

Related Works

Albums
1954 Opus de Funk
1955 Milt Jackson Quartet

1956 Ballads And Blues
1957 Plenty, Plenty Soul
1957 Bags And Flutes
1958 Soul Brothers (with Ray Charles)
1958 Bean Bags
1958 Paris Session
1958 Bags Opus
1959 Bags And Trane (with John Coltrane)
1959 Ballad Artistry Of Milt Jackson
1960 Vibrations
1961 Bags Meets Wes (with Wes Montgomery)
1962 Statements
1962 Invitation
1962 Big Bags
1963 For Someone I Love
1963 Live At The Village Gate
1964 Jazz 'n' Samba
1964 In A New Setting
1965 Live At The Museum Of Modern Art
1967 Born Free
1969 That's The Way It Is
1969 Just The Way It Had To Be
1972 Sunflower
1973 Goodbye
1974 Olinga
1975 The Big Three
1976 At The Kosei Nenkin
1976 Feelings
1977 Milt Jackson - Ray Brown Jam
1978 Soul Believer
1979 Bags' Bag
1980 Night Mist
1981 Ain't But A Few Of Us Left
1982 Memories Of Thelonious Sphere Monk
1983 Jackson, Johnson, Brown & Co
1977 Soul Fusion
1979 Loose Walk
1981 Big Mouth
1983 Two Of The Few

» More

Related People

Dizzy Gillespie

(born Jan. 1, 1923, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—died Oct. 9, 1999, New York, N.Y.) African-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.