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Michael Gregory Jackson

Michael Gregory Jackson “Musical Mercury.”

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MICHAEL GREGORY JACKSON (aka MICHAEL GREGORY) michaelgregoryjackson.com | facebook.com/MichaelGregoryJackson/ | twitter.com/MGJMUSIC | michaelgregoryjacksonepk.com

One of the most influential and innovative guitarists to emerge during New York’s avant- garde loft scene in the 70s, master guitarist, composer, and improviser Michael Gregory Jackson has spanned and at times defied musical genres. He has embraced everything from avant-garde, creative music, jazz, blues, rock and electronica soundscapes to harmonically rich and lyrically deep vocal tunes, with the complex arrangements and subtleties that are a signature of his music. In his early career, Rolling Stone magazine called Jackson “the most original jazz guitarist to emerge since the sixties.”

Jackson’s brilliant technique on electric and acoustic, flavored with quicksilver runs, volume pedal swells and sudden shifts from crystalline melodic to fuzzy dissonance, has been name-checked as a critical influence on such 6-string greats as Bill Frisell, Vernon Reid, Brandon Ross, Elliot Sharpe and others.

Jackson has worked and/or recorded with luminaries across the musical spectrum including Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Wadada Leo Smith, Nile Rodgers, Anthony Braxton, Will Calhoun, Nels Cline, Nona Hendryx, Jack Dejohnette, Steve Winwood, David Murray, Walter Becker, Buster Williams, Carlos Santana, Marcus Miller, Henry Threadgill, Omar Hakim, Vernon Reid, and Patti LaBelle, to name a few.

Jackson has been signed to Arista, Island, BMG, RCA, ENJA, and IAI Records. His recent credits as a producer include Pulitzer Prize finalist Wadada Leo Smith, for whom he produced two critically acclaimed discs on Cuneiform Records. Jackson has taught and led creative workshops in the U.S. and abroad, including faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music, visiting artist at CalArts (California Institute for the Arts), guiding artist at Woodstock’s Creative Music Studio and visiting artist at The Copenhagen Conservatory of Music in Denmark.

Michael Gregory Jackson Comes Full Circle with “Spirit Signal Strata” -Sal Cataldi 10/24/2017

One of the most influential guitarist to emerge during New York’s loft jazz scene of the 70s has returned to his pursuit of things fully outside with his newest release, “Spirit Signal Strata.”

For those not in the know, Jackson may have enjoyed one of the most diverse careers of any guitarist of the past 40 years. He’s crafted an extensive, genre- skipping discography and cliché-free musical architecture, ones that has profoundly influenced and been name-checked by a legion of progressive guitar stars like Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, Vernon Reid and Marc Ribot.

Jackson was barely out of his teens when he made a big splash in New York, as the lieutenant in the critically-acclaimed Oliver Lake Quartet, then with a succession of edge-pushing solo albums beginning with “Clarity, Circle, Triangle, Square” and “Karmonic Suite”, produced by the late pianist Paul Bley. As his solo career evolved, his more soulful and traditionally melodic gifts, and beautiful vocals of the Smokey Robinson/Stevie Wonder school, were gradually added to the mix, flavoring albums like the brilliant “Heart and Center” and “Gifts” both productions by Jackson in 1979 for Arista Novus Records.

By the 80s, the avant garde seemed to recede somewhat, as Jackson was firmly in the commercial mode – as an artist, producer and session man on more pop-centric productions. Although Michael continued his deep association and performances with Wadada Leo Smith, the late violinist Leroy Jenkins and saxophonist/composer Oliver Lake.

In 1983 he recorded “Situation X”, the synth and hook heavy pop album produced by Nile Rodgers, Steve Winwood was also a guest on this session for Island Records. Michael’s song “No Ordinary Romance” from this album was also recorded by the celebrated late great singer Al Jarreau (also produced by Rodgers) in 1986.

Through the 90s and 00s, Jackson quit the big city and pop music rat race for homes in rural New England.

These calmer environs decidedly influenced his sounds and production on stripped down almost alt. folk/jazz releases like “Way We Used to Do” and “Red.” Here, the accent was on elegant multi-tracked largely acoustic guitars, inventively spacious chords and melodies and his soaring vocals and stacked harmonies.

But the past decade has seen Jackson steadily moving back to his original pursuit: no-limits instrumental guitaring. A reunion with Oliver Lake at New York’s Vision Fest, touring, producing and recording two records, “Spiritual Dimensions” (2009) and “Heart’s Reflections” (2011) with acclaimed trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and a duo of releases cut during his travels and teaching in Copenhagen – “Liberty” with the Art Ensemble Syd and “After Before” with his Denmark based Clarity Quartet – have set the stage for his latest.

With “Spirit Signal Strata,” Jackson has created a superb addition to the lexicon of great jazz guitar trio discs. With the powerful and always inventive drumming of Kenwood Dennard (Brand X, Miles Davis, John Scofield) and Keith Witty (Amel Larrieux, Somi, David S. Ware) on bass, Jackson plies an experimental road, but one always tethered to his strong sense of melody and thematic development. Sometimes it swings and sometimes it burrows down into the deepest blues, but it’s always smart, passionate guitaring that never feels overly academic.

The eight-track, 56-minutes offering kicks off with “After Before (for K),” where Jackson’s velvet smooth tone and country blues twang ride over a gospel groove, a little like Frisell a couple of espressos over his usual limit.

“SK” is another slow groove, a fractal blues, all sneak slurs and slips, with a whole tone turnaround that ups the suspense. It’s as if B.B. King had been slipped some Owsley at the Fillmore West, then spent a month drinking up harmolodic theory at Ornette Coleman’s Caravan of Dreams.

On “Mediation in E,” Jackson and crew showcase a sunrise tune, a pastoral opening theme that provides plenty of space for Witty’s bowed bass to shine and Jackson to solo over a bright major drone, and dip into slurs that impart an almost Eastern flavor.

With “Cortex Vortex (for Muhal Richard Abrams)” Jackson and company challenge the listener once again. A composition in three parts, at first floaty, deep space excursion, Jackson’s midi guitar has a flute-y/cello tone, contrasting the bowed bass and gong and cymbal work . The piece then runs through many moods and dramas accented by Jackson’s slurs across arpeggios and volume pedal squeals and Witty’s manipulated bass, which bring to mind early Weather Report era Miroslav Vitous. It’s nothing short of true, spontaneous, collective improvisational greatness.

Jackson gives props to the free jazz pioneer on “JcakJcak (for Ornette Coleman), a remake of a tune debuted on “After Before,” one of his recent Denmark recordings. A melodic chordal theme with a knotty, stop-time head leads the way into some frenzied soloing in a razor sharp tone, over a swinging beat from Dennard, culminating in another flashy solo over a fat back funk.

The disc has other superb standouts to let your imagination get lost in, from the funky “Spin” to the remake of the mysterious “Clarity 4” from his 1976 solo debut, “Clarity, Circle, Triangle, Square”, perhaps the most ever-changing and exploratory track on the disc, then we go straight up into to the contrapuntal and brassy “Spin”, culminating the disc with the swinging strut of “Souvenirs”.

In June 2017, The Washington Post made waves when it published a much- read feature called “Why My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Slow, Secret Death of the Six-String Electric.” If the guitar industry, and the music in general, are suffering perhaps it’s because true visionaries and explorers like Michael Gregory Jackson are not enjoying the spotlight they so richly deserve.

If more people checked into his world, this superb new disc and the many others before, they might still see there’s so much more that can be done with our old friend, the electric guitar. If you just have the skill, passion and balls to pursue the unknown like Michael Gregory Jackson.

For more info including sounds from this and other albums, visit http://www.michaelgregoryjackson.com HuffPost News http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-gregory-jackson-comes-full- circle-with-spirit_us_59ef405ee4b0b8a51417bd2d

* * * * * * * Michael Gregory Jackson Clarity Quartet Releases “After Before” One of the Most Influential and Innovative Guitarists to Emerge from New York’s Loft Jazz Scene of the 70s Leads his Danish Quartet on Emotive Edge-Pushing Collection that Embraces Sounds Traditional and New Michael Gregory Jackson is an African-American composer, innovator, guitarist, improviser, sound explorer, educator and poet. Upon his arrival in NYC, and since his 20's, he is widely considered one of the most innovative guitarists to emerge from New York’s avant-garde loft scene of the 70s. Michael is a pioneer of a new movement in which genres and sounds were suddenly mixed in new and inventive ways. Michael embodies the nature of a true and natural artist, perpetually cultivating new ideas and directions. He has served as a critical influence, name-checked by Bill Frisell, Vernon Reid, Marc Ribot, Brandon Ross, Elliot Sharpe and Mary Halvorson. “Michael Gregory Jackson has long been one of my favorite musicians. We came along around the same time and I have always considered him to be one of the most significantly original guitarists of our generation with his own distinctive sound and point of view. I am always curious to know what he is doing and where his inspiration has taken him next. - Pat Metheny 2015

Over the years, Jackson has worked and/or recorded with luminaries across the musical spectrum including Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Wadada Leo Smith, Nile Rodgers, Anthony Braxton, Will Calhoun, Nels Cline, Bob Moses, Nona Hendryx, Jack Dejohnette, Steve Winwood, David Murray, Walter Becker, Buster Williams, Carlos Santana, Marcus Miller, Henry Threadgill, Omar Hakim and Vernon Reid to name a few.

His recent credits as a producer include Pulitzer Prize nominee Wadada Leo Smith, for whom he produced two critically acclaimed discs, “Spiritual Dimensions” and “Hearts Reflections”.

Bio by Sal Cataldi

One of the most influential guitarists to emerge during New York’s avant-garde loft jazz scene has returned to influence a new generation of edge-pushing, genre-hopping musicians. He’s also returned, after a few decades’ detour courtesy of “The King of Pop,” to his original name and performance moniker – Michael Gregory Jackson.

Michael has tread a winding musical path over his 30-plus year career, embracing everything from creative music, jazz, blues, rock and electronica soundscapes to harmonically rich and lyrically-deep vocal tunes, with the complex arrangements and subtleties that are a signature of his music. His ability to span musical genres was best captured by one reviewer’s depiction, “Musical Mercury.”

Michael Gregory Jackson was barely of his teens when he served as second-in- command of the Oliver Lake Quartet, one of the most critically acclaimed and far-traveling ensembles working jazz’s outer fringes. Michael’s brilliant technique on electric and acoustic, flavored with quicksilver runs, volume pedal swells and sudden shifts from crystalline melodic to fuzzy dissonance, has been name-checked as a critical-influence, and can be heard deep in the musical DNA of six-string legends like Bill Frisell, Vernon Reid, Pat Metheny, Marc Ribot, Mary Halvorsen and more.

The fruits of Lake and Jackson’s post-modern Bird and Dizzy flights, often woven in a trio format with renowned drummer Pheeroan aKLaff, can be enjoyed on discs like “Life Dance Of Is” (Arista Novus), the recently re-released live set “Zaki” (Hat-Hut) and Michael’s own solo releases of this era, his 1976 debut released in 2010 “Clarity, Circle, Triangle, Square” (ESP) and “Karmonic Suite” (IAI).

It was on “Clarity, Circle, Triangle, Square” that listeners may have first detected the staggering breadth of Michael’s musical influences and ambitions. All About Jazz’s Clifford Allen writes: “The shock – at least to those weaned on improvised music – comes when he spins out a delicate, soulful tune reminiscent of a young Steve Wonder. It’s effect is extraordinary, immediate and unlike anything else before or since in improvised music.” Q Magazine concurs, writing of the 1987 “What To Where” BMG: “Gregory has that rare combination of virtuosity and versatility, able to play the guitar whiz...then slip easily into hugely commercial cuts.”

Michael Gregory Jackson’s journey from the avant-garde to what the industry regarded as a more commercial, song- based sound was thankfully and intriguingly gradual. It gave fans with inquiring taste a ringside seat to an evolution that unfolded subtly over a series of superb albums, ones that continue to be favorites of critics and his fellow musicians.

1979 saw the release of two masterpieces produced for Arista/Novus, “Gifts” and “Heart and Center.” Legendary Rolling Stone critic Robert Palmer called the song-centric second release: “a completely original synthesis of influences ranging from Stravinsky to Duke Ellington to Hendrix to Earth, Wind and Fire, unlike anything that’s been heard before.” With the more instrumental- focused “Gifts,” Michael showcases his spiraling, cliché-free guitaristics, and a chamber jazz approach to horn-driven melody, one highlighted with the 10 minute, “Sir Julius of Woodstock.” The skat-accented instrumental was titled and dedicated to another of his frequent musical partners, sax man Julius Hemphill. Inspirations Magazine called it “a beautiful, magical record... (Jackson) thoroughly inhabits these intricate compositions, always finding an improvisational voice that is absolutely at home. A masterful performance.”

As the 1980s unfolded, Michael dropped the Jackson (to avoid confusion with we all know who) and moved further towards commercial sounds, as a performer, producer and session man, with releases like the synth-heavy “What to Where” RCA/BMG and “Situation -X,” Island, the latter produced by Grammy Award winner producer Nile Rodgers, an acknowledged fan of Michael's guitar prowess.

During this era, his talents as guitarist and vocalist also adorned projects by folks who might seem unlikely partners for the one-time outre guitar god, Steve Winwood who recorded on Michael’s Situation-X and was hired by Mick Jagger for a solo tour. Michael also collaborated with Walter Becker of Steely Dan.

While the record-buying public may not have provided platinum level support, the critics did. About “Situation-X,” The Trouser Press observed that its’ formula combined “Bowie’s sophistication, Prince’s flamboyance and with plenty of originality.” The Advocate added that Jackson’s more pop leanings “lay bear the sinews of human emotion,” observing that his “high tenor voice calls to mind Smokey Robinson, Sting or Ben Harper.”

Like many veteran musicians, Michael Gregory Jackson has most recently quenched his wandering creative spirit by making his recording more of a cottage industry, and by helping to point, in the right direction, a new generation of genre-hopping musicians in his role as educator.

Throughout the 90s and 00s, Jackson continued to evolve his own sound with releases like “Way We Used to Do” (Tip- Toe), “Red” and “Towards the Sun” (both Golden/iTunes). Dense horn-driven clusters have given way to a stripped- down, largely acoustic sound, with multi-tracked guitars, wide harmonic chording and alternately soaring and quiet vocals, on some songs imparting an almost alt.folk feel that might reside in your record collection next to Nick Drake. The sound may have been influenced by his idyllic surroundings, his chosen homes in western Massachusetts and, until recently, Maine.

Over the last two decades, Jackson has taught and led creative workshops at wide variety of institutions in the U.S. and abroad. These include the New England Conservatory of Music, CalArts (California Institute for the Arts), Woodstock’s Creative Music Studio and The Copenhagen Conservatory of Music in Denmark, which have led to his most recent recordings.As the guitarists he influenced with his early avant-garde palate have continued to widen the ears of the listening public, Jackson has again returned to this style and experimental jazz’s center stage – New York City.

Over the past decade, Jackson has increasingly performed at New York venues like John Zorn’s Space, Tonic, Roulette, Spectrum and during the annual Visions Festival, at a much- anticipate reunion of the Oliver Lake Trio alongside his original cohorts, sax man Lake and drummer Pheeroan aKLaff. Jackson has also hit the European festival circuit, performing in ensembles led by another longtime partner in sound, Pulitzer Prize nominee, Wadada Leo Smith, for whom he produced two noted and critically acclaimed discs, “Spiritual Dimensions,” (disc two) Cuneiform 2009 and “Heart's Reflections,” Cuneiform 2011. Michael also produced Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon’s 2008 release “Resistance.”

In 2013, Jackson seems poised to reclaim the mantle of the god of jazz guitar avant, with a busy touring schedule and a move back to New York City, where he is increasingly connecting with both old compatriots and a younger generation of players.

His newest release is a product of his European travels and teachings. “Liberty, (2013 Embla Music) features Jackson and the Art Ensemble Syd, a creative ensemble from Denmark. The disc includes seven Jackson originals including the free-spirited, two part title track, the touching vocal ballad “Down” and the wild, improvised “Citi”, compelling jazz author Bob Gluck to write “The music is deeply touching and even heartbreaking. It defies category (yay!) …I cannot stop listening to this recording. It is that good…one part New Orleans early jazz, another part Ornette Coleman ‘harmolodic’ syncronicity, and a third part jam band party.”

Currently Michael is preparing for a fall release of his European based Clarity Quartet, tentatively titled “After Before.” He is recording a solo guitar project, a project of duos, trios and quartets, finishing a project of songs, working title “Breathe” and editing his book of poetry titled “Poems Righting Me.”

Michael recently played on Pulitzer Prize nominee Wadada Leo Smith’s “Najwa” released 2017 on TUM Records and has also joined storied drummer Ra-Kalam Bob Moses’s new trio which begins touring in April 2014.

Michael is performing solo, duo, trio and large ensemble concerts and teaching at various institutions in Europe and in the USA.

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