By George Massey
I had the pleasure of interviewing Jazz legend, Chubby Jackson. Thank's to his daughter, Jaijai, for all her cooperation.
All About Jazz: You influenced a lot of bassists, who were you influenced by?
Chubby Jackson: I was definitely influenced right from the start by Jimmy Blanton, a young man featured with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He started a newer face on a bass. it was no longer chromatic runs up and down the finger board. He put a definite melodic touch there and that's still very obvious today. I recently heard a CD featuring Brian Bromberg with his trio. I almost fainted from happiness. If any other bass players were influenced by me, I would like to say thank you, thank you, thank you. I really mean it.
AAJ: You were the anchor for Woody Herman's Herds: fellow greats like, Stan Getz, Flip Phillips, Bill Harris to name some. Did you have a favorite Herd, and if so, why?
CJ: I played in the band that played the blues, in the first herd, the second herd and the third herd and names like Stan Getz, Flip Phillips, Bill Harris, wow! and let's add Don Lamond, Neal Hefti, the Candoli brothers -Pete and Conte and Zoot Sims and Billy Bauer. let's face it, all three of the herd's all had that remarkable spirit and fire that Woody let us all demonstrate on our own. Let's put it this way: Happiness is a thing called Woody.
AAJ: A trade mark of yours, not only pushing the band with your bass work, but using your voice to punch the band even more. was that by design or just happened?
CJ: Excitement. Unbelievable excitement was the theme of the herds, the first and second particularly. When I started to scream, it was for real. It just burst out of me and lo and behold, the band reacted. They were screaming, I was screaming, Bill Harris or Flip would play a great solo and I'd yell : Yeah, Bill or yeah Flip and the whole band would say, " Yeah go man, great!!" in a loud voice . Woody fell in too, and he thoroughly enjoyed the attitude and spirit that was on his bandstand. It got so that the vocal spirit that emerged was like the birth of a new baby. Those were some great days and nights.
AAJ: You had terrific bands as a leader, big bands and combos. Would you give the readers your opinion on the pros and cons of being a leader.
CJ: After I left Woody, I migrated from a big band to a small band in regards to being a leader. I learned a lot from Woody: to be kind, respectful, appreciative to the sidemen who were working hard for me and for what we all stood for. Keep 'em all happy and laughing all the way. While I was rummaging around as a leader, the decline of the big bands stepped in . Why? To begin with, prices ran way up so that the promoter, the musician's themselves and the leader could not afford those particular prices. As you remember, it all dropped down to the bottom of the barrel. Small groups took over so many of our one-nighter dance halls and shows in theatres and hotels all drifted into space.
AAJ: You not only had a great musical career but you became a TV personality, when hosting a TV kiddy show. Could you describe what it was like to host the show and be a comic.
CJ: The time I was with Louis Armstrong at the Chicago Theater, I left after the last show and went to work at WBKB in Chicago playing bass on the Kukla, Fran, and Ollie Show and I was limited to a real boom-ta, boom-ta. boom-ta way of playing which was a million miles away from what I had played with Woody. However, during a rehearsal Burr Tillstrom, the main man and puppeteer asked me to give Beulah Witch a bass lesson in front of the proscenium. it was totally ad lib and the funny part of it was very evident that Beulah Witch liked me more than I can explain. Now, Burr Tillstrom proved to be my hop, skip and jump into my own show on the same network in Chicago. . . ABC. . . The Little Rascal Show which coincidentally won the Chicago awards for the best kiddy show in the Chicago area. This led, some years later, to go to New York on ABC to continue The Little Rascal Show . It was a great deal of fun for me . I discovered that if I had actor in me, it came out on this show. in New York, the organization, ABC, gave me a big band to play on the show every day. Don Lamond played drums, Arnold Fishkin played bass, Ernie Royal and other fine musicians who were on staff at the network were part of the aggregation. If that show did me any good, it was because it made me so friendly with the younger group of people. We enjoyed each other immensely plus being a comic was nothing new to me. I've had that since birth.
AAJ: Your son, Duffy is a tremendous drummer. Why drums in the house of the great Chubby Jackson? Did you ever have a father and son band? Hey, there is Johnson and Johnson, why not Jackson and Jackson?
CJ: Talking about kids, my three were born to the entertainment world coming from my mother and father who were in vaudeville . Myno turned out to be a great singer but turned her efforts into the business world which made her a lot of money, Jaijai sang for a while with the group that appeared with Buddy Rich's big band . She now produces shows for major companies all over the nation. Then came Duffy who to this day, I believe without ego, is the best band drummer in the world. He started drumming at the age of four when Don Lamond gave him a set of drums through the company that Don was attached to at the time. That started everything. He first came to light with his own band on the Garry Moore network television show where he played some blues. This started him off on a great career which he still commands by going to Europe most of the time from Florida where he lives. He's a lulu. Wait a moment! You should hear him play bass and piano and vibes and scat sing and conduct his own big band, Yessir, I repeat Duffy's a lulu! He learned a lot from me plus I learned a lot from him. He was always in one of my bands, father and son, until he left after High School graduation to go California to play at Shelley's Manhole with Shelly, Ray Brown and Monty Alexander. There's no doubt that we're Jackson and Jackson. You can bet that it's still Jackson and Jackson.
AAJ: Speaking of bands, you had been with the San Diego Jazz Orchestra. is it still doing concerts, and do you participate?
CJ: Talking about San Diego and Duffy, he's making a quick visit with me to appear on a tribute being given me at the NAMM Museum of Music this month. I look forward to do some scatting with him as I do not play bass any more . Why? people always ask me, "Chubby, why did you stop playing bass ?" and my answer is: I got tired of imitating myself". So my fun is scatting the blues with the San Diego Concert Jazz band.
AAJ: We are getting long of tooth, 67 for me, in June, correct me if I'm wrong, you will be 83 in Oct? My point, we have a lot of memories, one of your priceless ones I would think, is the famous: "Day In Harlem" photo, when so many Giants of Jazz, were all in town and assembled in front of this brownstone, on the stairs, the sidewalk, sitting at the curb. --Priceless!
CJ: To add it all up, was to be in that tremendous photo known as "A Great Day In Harlem" when almost every jazz player was also there. What a thrill! Plus the reshoot that Life Magazine did in '96 that showed seven of us still left aboard the ship. Incidentally, before I forget, I will be 84 this coming October 25th and that's not all I forget. Thanks, George. All my love to everybody in New York.
AAJ: No Chubby, THANK YOU, and one more point, Chubby's nine year old grand-daughter, Chloe Zae, loves to sing and dance, and dig -- scat sing with her grand-pa.
Read more about Chubby Jackson at the Great Day In Harlem website.
