Milt Jackson
His Fellow musicians call vibraphonist Milt Jackson "the preacher" because his expert jazz phases were like sentences, Hugh Bell says. "I took this shot at a concert at Riverside Drive and 125th near Riverside Church (in New York) in 1997. He permitted me a good camera shot because I showed him a photo of him by my friend Carlie Dinkins."
Jackson's group, the Modern Jazz Quartet, was, and still is, renowned for its improvisations, which paid more attention to moving a piece of music through changed in mood or tempo than had previously been customary in jazz.
A major influence on jazz, particularly in the 1950's, Milt Jackson, bassist Ray Brown, pianist John Lewis and drummer Kenny Clarke inspired players and composers to explore ways of combining jazz with other musical genres. As a master teacher in what became known as the cool school of jazz, Milt Jackson's virtuosity in his solo "blows" perhaps most exemplified in the famous "Django" was critical in creating a lasting body of work in his long career.
Writer Nancy Thompson