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Artist
Jackson, Milt
12+ albums
about
Milton (Milt) Jackson (January 1, 1923 - October 9, 1999) was an American jazz vibraphonist, often considered the finest player on his instrument the art had ever known, and one of the most important figures in the bebop style, although he performed in several subgenres of jazz, especially his coolly swinging solos and accompaniments in the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with several harder bop and post-bop players. A very expressive player, Jackson differentiated himself from other vibraphonists in his attention to variations on harmonics and rhythm. He was particularly fond of the 12-bar blues at slow tempos. He preferred to set the vibraphone's oscillator to a low 3.3 revolutions per second (as opposed to Lionel Hampton's speed of 10 revolutions per second) for a more subtle vibrato. On occasion, Jackson would also sing and play piano professionally. He was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie, who hired him for his sextet in 1946 and also kept him for larger ensembles. He quickly acquired experience working with the most important figures in jazz of the era, including Woody Herman, Howard McGhee, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker. In the Gillespie big band, Jackson fell into a pattern that led to the founding of the Modern Jazz Quartet: Gillespie maintained a former swing tradition of a small group within a big band, and his included Jackson, pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Kenny Clarke (the arguable pioneer of the ride cymbal time
