Daily Dose O fJazz…

Ronald Shannon Jackson was born on January 12, 1940 in Fort Worth, Texas and as a child he was immersed in music. His father monopolized the local jukebox business and established the only African American-owned record store in the metropolitan area. His mother played piano and organ at their local church. Beginning at age five until nine he took piano lessons and in the third grade he studied music with John Carter. He graduated from I.M. Terrell High School, where he played with the marching band and learned about symphonic percussion. By the age of 15, he was playing professionally. His first paid gig was with tenor saxophonist James Clay.

Attending Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri gave him access to St. Louis, Missouri and the musicians touring the Midwest. His roommate was pianist John Hicks and his bandmates also included Lester Bowie and Julius Hemphill. Transferring first to Texas Southern University, then to Prairie View A & M before landing at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut studying history and sociology. In 1966, through trumpeter Kenny Dorham he attended New York University on a full music scholarship.

Once in New York City he performed with many jazz musicians, including Charles Mingus, Betty Carter, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham, McCoy Tyner, Stanley Turrentine, Charles Tyler and Albert Ayler. By 1975 he joined Ornette Coleman’s electric free funk band, Prime Time, where he learned composition and harmolodics. He would go on to play Paris, France, record four albums with Cecil Taylor, and formed his band, The Decoding Society, in 1979. In addition to leading Decoding Society lineups, guitarist James Blood Ulmer recruited Ron for another group.

Continuing to push the envelope over the next few years he formed several groups including Last Exit, SXL, Mooko, and Power Tools. Jackson joined trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet, then played with the Punk Funk All Stars, and toured Europe with The Last Poets. In 2011 he formed a power trio called Encryption.

Drummer Ron Jackson who recorded nineteen albums as a leader, six with Last Exit and as a sideman fifteen with Albert Ayler, James Blood Ulmer, Cecil Taylor, SXL, Music Revelation Ensemble, and Ornette Coleman, died of leukemia on October 19, 2013, aged 73.

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