Re: RE: R.I.P. Ronald Shannon Jackson

I read that earlier-- a great pity.


On 22 October 2013 12:10, <[email protected]> wrote:

> **
>
>
> Really sad news.  My only references to his work are Last Exit and the
> Ornette stuff, but man - what a singular talent.  So out - but with that
> cohesive flow.  I'll explore his extensive catalog, unfortunately, too
> late.
>
>
> My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.  May his memory
> be eternal.
>
>
> --- d180fuzz
>
>
> ---In [email protected], <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I was sad to have stumbled upon this news...
>
> Fort Worth drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson dead at 73
> Posted Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013
>
> Read more here:
> http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/10/19/5260632/legendary-jazz-drummer-ronald.html#storylink=cpy
>
> Ronald Shannon Jackson, the legendary jazz drummer and composer from Fort
> Worth who helped pioneer free jazz and jazz fusion, died Saturday morning
> of leukemia. He was 73.
>
>
> In a career that spanned more than four decades, Mr. Jackson appeared on
> more than 50 albums as a leader, sideman, arranger or producer, and he
> collaborated with the pioneers of jazz’s avant-garde movement.
>
>
> Mr. Jackson’s band, the Decoding Society, which he founded in 1979,
> blended avant-garde jazz, rock and funk, receiving critical acclaim for
> such songs as Eye on You and When Colors Play.
>
>
> Fellow musicians and friends said Saturday that Mr. Jackson’s
> contributions to jazz will not be forgotten.
>
>
> “It’s seismic,” said Vernon Reid, a former member of the Decoding Society
> and founder of Living Colour, speaking from a tour stop in Spokane, Wash.
> “For me, it’s so — it’s the enormity of it, just on an emotional, personal
> level is so big. … He is my most important mentor.”
>
>
> Born in 1940 in Fort Worth, Mr. Jackson had musical roots that ran deep.
> His father ran the city’s only black-owned record store and jukebox
> business, and his mother played piano and organ at a Methodist church.
>
>
> Mr. Jackson attended I.M. Terrell High School, where he studied drumming
> under music teacher G.A. Baxter, who also taught notable jazz artists
> including Ornette Coleman and King Curtis.
>
>
> After school, Mr. Jackson began playing professionally in Dallas with
> members of the Ray Charles Band, then moved to New York City in 1966 to
> study music at New York University, according to his website.
>
>
> “Jackson’s career took off, and he aligned in the late ’60s with several
> other top musicians, among them McCoy Tyner, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson,
> Charles Mingus, Betty Carter and Stanley Turrentine,” JazzTimes.com wrote
> in his obituary<http://jazztimes.com/articles/108150-drummer-composer-ronald-shannon-jackson-dies-at-73>.
>
>
> Ken Shimamoto, a friend, said Mr. Jackson stood out among the pioneers of
> free jazz, which sought to alter, extend or break down the conventions of
> jazz in the 1950s and ’60s.
>
>
> Mr. Jackson became known as the only musician to have performed with the
> three prime pioneers of free jazz — Coleman, Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor.
>
> “He was a very forward-looking and free-thinking musician. He was always
> questioning things,” said Shimamoto, a local writer and musician. “He had
> an inquisitive mind and a restless intelligence that manifested itself in
> everything he did musically.”
>
>
> Traveling extensively, Mr. Jackson performed at least 40 times in Europe
> and more than a dozen times in Africa and Asia. He also worked as an
> educator, giving seminars at Harvard University and other universities
> nationwide.
>
>
> In the 1990s, Mr. Jackson returned to his native Fort Worth, and in July
> 2012, he played at the Kessler Theater in Dallas, his last performance in
> North Texas.
>
> He is survived by four children.
>
> Read more here:
> http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/10/19/5260632/legendary-jazz-drummer-ronald.html#storylink=cpy
>
>  
>