Michael Jackson: Photographer, musician, and jazz journalist

This week Mike Jones sits down with Michael Jackson: photographer, musician, author, and the guy with his finger on the pulse of every jazz event in Chicago. From playing lead alto in a London big band to graduate school at the School of the Art Institute, from iconic Downbeat shoots to late nights at the Green Mill, Michael has done a bit of everything, and he still never stops.

They dig into his 32 years in Chicago, tracking down Von Freeman on a snowy February night, his first big Downbeat piece on Ronnie Scott, recording 15 tracks in 6 hours and cutting a new record with his daughter, why the physical record still matters, and what it means to be an advocate for a music that lives on the fringe.

Michael on his life's work: "I'm interested in every aspect of people and their art form: where people come from, why they get into it, why it means so much to them."

Chapters

• 00:00 Welcome: the great Michael Jackson
• 01:28 Recording with his daughter (the "Easy Evil" sessions)
• 05:01 Detroit Jazz Festival and a blindfold test with Joe Lovano
• 06:37 Off the boat in 1994: the London jazz years
• 07:59 Printmaker to Chicago: the School of the Art Institute
• 09:01 Finding von Freeman and the Green Mill decision
• 11:33 Writing for Downbeat: the Ronnie Scott story
• 14:53 How a wedding gig led to journalism
• 16:57 A musical family
• 20:16 Teenage gigs, vinyl, and living on the streets of New York
• 27:21 Slim Cooper's: a baptism of fire in Philly
• 30:52 The Checkerboard Lounge and the warmth of the scene
• 33:54 Photography now, and why he shoots musicians
• 38:49 Why the physical record still matters
• 40:31 Jonesy's new records and the LA rhythm section
• 48:14 George Garzone and championing the unsung
• 53:46 The night Penn got stage fright at the Green Mill
• 59:03 The Sheik of Araby and a tribute to Dave Jemilo
• 1:04:42 Two new albums, vinyl only