Jackson was born on January 1, 1923, in
Detroit, Michigan, United States, 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. 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. In 1989, Jackson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the
Berklee College of Music. 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.) 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". 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 ==