Milt Jackson

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.

Various Artists: The Birth of Bop

Read "The Birth of Bop" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
May 3, 2023

Someone famously called jazz the sound of surprise, but all too often, what is on offer is the dull hum of routine. Or something like that. This historic reissue is, however, anything but routine. This is not the first time that Teddy Reig's Savoy sides have been reissued (was he also the mysterious Buck Ram listed as producing one track?), but Craft Recordings took a lot of trouble to produce this very fine selection. If a listener were, ...

Interview

Remembering Milt Jackson

by Lazaro Vega
March 27, 2017

This interview was first published at All About Jazz in November 1999 and is part of our ongoing effort to archive pre-database material. This interview was conducted prior to a Modern Jazz Quartet performance at Hope College, Holland, Michigan in September of 1989. Broadcast at the time on Blue Lake Public Radio; portions of this interview appeared in an advance article published by the Grand Rapids Press. Jackson spoke from his home in Teaneck, N.J. Lazaro ...

Album Review

Milt Jackson: Sunflower / Goodbye

Read "Sunflower / Goodbye" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 28, 2016

Even if vibes player Milt Jackson had just played with The Modern Jazz Quartet and not embarked on a solo career, his place in jazz history would be secure. However, Jackson was much more than a vital part of the famous chamber jazz group and he recorded a string of excellent albums, including three sessions as a leader for Creed Taylor's label, CTI. Two of those albums are now conveniently gathered in a single-disc package from British ...

Album Review

Oscar Peterson: Exclusively For My Friends

Read "Exclusively For My Friends" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
September 18, 2015

An 8-CD set of recordings from the great Oscar Peterson, beautifully recorded, sumptuously packaged and accompanied by a 60-page booklet full of informative writing: Exclusively For My Friends is a treat for ears and eyes. All of the recordings on this set were made between 1963 and 1971. The sessions took place in the home of producer and MPS Records owner Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer in Germany's Black Forest--Peterson and Brunner-Schwer were friends and the pianist often visited the label owner's ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet

by Marc Davis
August 18, 2014

And now, a crossroads: At what price do I pass? It's the dilemma all collectors face eventually. At first, you buy the commons. A used CD at $4 is a no-brainer. A new CD at $10 or $12, easy to justify. But what do you do when the easies are gone and the price makes you think twice? I've reached that point. My mission is to collect all the Blue Note CDs in the classic 1500 ...

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Album Review

Milt Jackson: Sunflower

Read "Sunflower" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
February 6, 2011

With a series of mainstream dates to his credit dating back to the early 1950s—not to mention charter membership in the now-legendary Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) and one-offs with everyone from bop saxophonist Charlie Parker to “new thing" saxophonist John Coltrane—vibraphonist Milt Jackson was the clear link between his instrument's swing era beginnings with Lionel Hampton and more progressive things to come with then-relative youngsters Gary Burton and Bobby Hutcherson. Still—and despite the label's centrist-leaning proclivities on one hand, balancing ...

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Album Review

Milt Jackson: Da Capo

by Nic Jones
February 19, 2007

Milt Jackson was to the vibraphone what Bud Powell was to the piano, in terms of how he disseminated the expansive harmonic vocabulary of bebop. This set, featuring both his early small group work and a fledgling Modern Jazz Quartet, indicates just how expansive his music was in the first decades of his career.

“Baggy Eyes" and “Autumn Breeze (In A Beautiful Mood)" are the earliest tracks on offer here, dating from April of 1948. They catch Jackson at a ...

Video / DVD

Video: Milt Jackson, 1984

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 9, 2020

Vibraphonist Milt Jackson's earliest recordings were accompanying Dinah Washington on her first releases on Apollo Records in Los Angeles in 1945. He also was among the first to perform bop with Dizzy Gillespie's Rebop Six in December '45 (Groovin' High) and with Gillespie's big band of 1946. Through the years, he recorded with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and many other important artists in the early 1950s. And he pioneered chamber jazz as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet, starting ...
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Video / DVD

The Milt Jackson Quartet, Then And Then

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
June 1, 2016

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 interludeswith vibraharpist Milt Jackson, pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Kenny Clarke. They first recorded as an entity in 1951 as ...
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Video / DVD