Al Jackson
Encyclopedia
Al Jackson, Jr. was a drummer
, producer
, and songwriter
. He is best known as a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.s, a group of session musician
s who worked for Stax Records
and produced their own instrumental
s. Jackson was called "The Human Timekeeper
" for his drumming ability.
. The young Jackson started drumming at an early age and began playing on stage with his father's band in 1940 at the age of 5. He later began playing in producer/trumpeter Willie Mitchell's band and at the same time was holding down the chair with the popular Ben Branch Band. Future bandmates Steve Cropper
and Donald "Duck" Dunn first saw Jackson playing in Mitchell's band at the all white Manhattan Club.
In an interview with DRUM! Magazine, Mitchell says,
, providing an instantly recognizable backbeat behind the label's artists which included Rufus Thomas
, Carla Thomas
, Eddie Floyd
, Sam & Dave
, Otis Redding
, and blues guitarist Albert King
, who Jackson also produced. In the Seventies, Jackson co-wrote and played on several hits by Al Green
, including "Let's Stay Together
" and "I'm Still in Love with You
".
for ten years, Canadian Grammy Award-winning musicology professor Rob Bowman
wrote in Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records that four years after the last Booker T. & the MGs album, 1971's Melting Pot
, the group got together and decided to wrap up all of their individual productions and devote three years to a reunion of the band. On September 30, 1975, Al Jackson was scheduled to fly to Detroit, Michigan, to produce a Major Lance
session, when he heard the DJ on the radio reminding everyone of the Joe Frazier
-Muhammad Ali
fight that night. Jackson called Detroit and said he was going to watch "The Thrilla in Manila
" on the big screen at the Mid-South Coliseum. Though still legally married, Jackson was estranged from his wife. In July 1975 his wife had shot him in the chest. He decided not to press charges, but was in the process of a divorce and was planning to move to Atlanta, Georgia, to begin working with Stax
singer/songwriter William Bell
.
Jackson attended the screening with Eddie Floyd
and Terry Manning
, and after the Ali-Frazier fight, he returned home and found intruders in his house. He was reportedly told to get down on his knees and then was shot fatally five times in the back. Around 3:00 a.m. on October 1, Barbara Jackson ran out in the street, yelling for help. She told police that burglars had tied her up and then shot her husband when he returned home. Police found nothing in the house out of place and Al Jackson's wallet and jewelry were still on his person. The man police believed to have pulled the trigger had reportedly known someone in Memphis and after robbing a bank in Florida, told them to meet him over at Al Jackson's house. Tracked through Florida to Memphis to Seattle, Washington, the suspected triggerman was killed by a police officer on July 15, 1976 after a gun battle.
with a 20" bass drum, 12" tom, 16" floor tom, and occasionally a 13" tom. He used a 14"x5" Ludwig
aluminum shell snare drum with 8 lugs (Ludwig Acrolite). Zildjian 16" Crash, 18" Ride, and 14" Hi-Hats.
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
, producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. He is best known as a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.s, a group of session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s who worked for Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
and produced their own instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
s. Jackson was called "The Human Timekeeper
Timekeeper
A timekeeper is an instrument or person that measures the passage of time; in the case of the latter, often with the assistance of a clock or stopwatch...
" for his drumming ability.
Early life
Jackson's father, Al Jackson Sr., led a jazz/swing dance band in Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. The young Jackson started drumming at an early age and began playing on stage with his father's band in 1940 at the age of 5. He later began playing in producer/trumpeter Willie Mitchell's band and at the same time was holding down the chair with the popular Ben Branch Band. Future bandmates Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
and Donald "Duck" Dunn first saw Jackson playing in Mitchell's band at the all white Manhattan Club.
In an interview with DRUM! Magazine, Mitchell says,
"Al Junior was about 14 years old then. I said to his father, 'Hey, let’s use your son!' He said, 'Oh, man, he can’t play this sh*t!' But he did make the gig. He set up his kit – a cymbal, a snare drum, and a bass drum – and I kicked the thing off. And, man, that thing went off at 20 tempos!
But that was around 7:00 o'clock. And by the time Al Senior came in an hour later, at 8:00 o'clock, Al Jackson Jr. was swinging that damn band like a pro."
Career
Jackson became one of the most important and influential drummers in the history of recorded music at StaxStax
Stax can refer to:* StAX, Streaming API for XML. An API for reading and writing XML in Java.* Stax Earspeakers, a Japanese brand of electrostatic earspeakers* Stax Records, an American record company...
, providing an instantly recognizable backbeat behind the label's artists which included Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian fromMemphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the...
, Carla Thomas
Carla Thomas
Carla Thomas is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. She is the daughter of Rufus Thomas.-Childhood:...
, Eddie Floyd
Eddie Floyd
Eddie Lee Floyd is an American soul/R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s and the song "Knock on Wood".-Biography:...
, Sam & Dave
Sam & Dave
Sam & Dave were an American soul and rhythm and blues duo who performed together from 1961 through 1981. The tenor voice was Samuel David Moore , and the baritone/tenor voice was Dave Prater .Sam & Dave are members of...
, Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, and blues guitarist Albert King
Albert King
Albert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:...
, who Jackson also produced. In the Seventies, Jackson co-wrote and played on several hits by Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...
, including "Let's Stay Together
Let's Stay Together (song)
"Let's Stay Together" is a song by Al Green on his 1972 album of the same name. Released as a single in 1971, the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remained on the chart for 16 weeks and also topped Billboards R&B chart for nine weeks. It was ranked the 60th greatest song of all time...
" and "I'm Still in Love with You
I'm Still in Love with You
I'm Still in Love with You may refer to:* I'm Still in Love with You ** "I'm Still in Love with You" * I'm Still in Love with You * "I'm Still in Love with You"...
".
Death
After researching the history of StaxStax
Stax can refer to:* StAX, Streaming API for XML. An API for reading and writing XML in Java.* Stax Earspeakers, a Japanese brand of electrostatic earspeakers* Stax Records, an American record company...
for ten years, Canadian Grammy Award-winning musicology professor Rob Bowman
Rob Bowman
Rob Stanton Bowman is an American film director and producer, perhaps most notable for his work on science fiction series, such as The X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation...
wrote in Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records that four years after the last Booker T. & the MGs album, 1971's Melting Pot
Melting Pot (Booker T album)
Melting Pot is a 1971 studio album recorded by Booker T. & the MG's for Stax Records. It is the last album to feature the group's classic lineup of Jones, Cropper, Dunn, and Jackson, and featured longer jam-oriented songs for the first time on an MG's album.-Background:By 1970, band leader Booker T...
, the group got together and decided to wrap up all of their individual productions and devote three years to a reunion of the band. On September 30, 1975, Al Jackson was scheduled to fly to Detroit, Michigan, to produce a Major Lance
Major Lance
Major Lance was an American R&B singer. After a number of US hits in the 1960s, including "The Monkey Time" and "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um", he became an iconic figure in Britain in the 1970s among followers of Northern soul.-Life:Major Lance was born in Winterville, Mississippi...
session, when he heard the DJ on the radio reminding everyone of the Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier
Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....
-Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
fight that night. Jackson called Detroit and said he was going to watch "The Thrilla in Manila
Thrilla in Manila
The Thrilla in Manila was the third and final famous boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Boxing Championship of the World, fought at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on October 1, 1975....
" on the big screen at the Mid-South Coliseum. Though still legally married, Jackson was estranged from his wife. In July 1975 his wife had shot him in the chest. He decided not to press charges, but was in the process of a divorce and was planning to move to Atlanta, Georgia, to begin working with Stax
Stax
Stax can refer to:* StAX, Streaming API for XML. An API for reading and writing XML in Java.* Stax Earspeakers, a Japanese brand of electrostatic earspeakers* Stax Records, an American record company...
singer/songwriter William Bell
William Bell (singer)
William Bell is an American soul singer and songwriter, and one of the architects of the Stax-Volt sound. As a performer, he is probably best known for 1961's "You Don't Miss Your Water" ; 1968's "Private Number" ; and 1976's "Tryin' To Love Two", Bell's only US top 40 hit, which also hit #1 on the...
.
Jackson attended the screening with Eddie Floyd
Eddie Floyd
Eddie Lee Floyd is an American soul/R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s and the song "Knock on Wood".-Biography:...
and Terry Manning
Terry Manning
Terry Manning is a music producer, songwriter, photographer and recording engineer known for work in rock, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres....
, and after the Ali-Frazier fight, he returned home and found intruders in his house. He was reportedly told to get down on his knees and then was shot fatally five times in the back. Around 3:00 a.m. on October 1, Barbara Jackson ran out in the street, yelling for help. She told police that burglars had tied her up and then shot her husband when he returned home. Police found nothing in the house out of place and Al Jackson's wallet and jewelry were still on his person. The man police believed to have pulled the trigger had reportedly known someone in Memphis and after robbing a bank in Florida, told them to meet him over at Al Jackson's house. Tracked through Florida to Memphis to Seattle, Washington, the suspected triggerman was killed by a police officer on July 15, 1976 after a gun battle.
Equipment
Jackson used Rogers DrumsRogers Drums
The Rogers company was started in 1849 by an Irish immigrant from Dublin named Joseph Rogers. Rogers came to the United States and started crafting drum-heads. His son began making drums in the mid-1930s at a Farmingdale, New Jersey location...
with a 20" bass drum, 12" tom, 16" floor tom, and occasionally a 13" tom. He used a 14"x5" Ludwig
Ludwig
Ludwig may refer to:* Ludwig , a German name* Ludwig , a German surname* Ludwig , a 1972 film by Luchino Visconti about Ludwig II of Bavaria* Ludwig , a 1977 animated children's series...
aluminum shell snare drum with 8 lugs (Ludwig Acrolite). Zildjian 16" Crash, 18" Ride, and 14" Hi-Hats.
External links
- Al Jackson, Jr. on SpinningSoul.com
- GiggingDrummer Al Jackson Jr.
- Steve Cropper remembers Al Jackson, Jr.
- Al Jackson on Allmusic
- Al Jackson on Find-A-Grave
- Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records by Rob BowmanRob Bowman (music writer)Rob Bowman is a contemporaneous Canadian professor of ethnomusicology and a music writer. He currently lives in Toronto with both his children....
- DRUM! Magazine