Ronald Shannon Jackson

Ronald Shannon Jackson
Jackson at the 2011 Moers Festival
Background information
Born(1940-01-12)January 12, 1940
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
DiedOctober 19, 2013(2013-10-19) (aged 73)
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Genres
OccupationPercussionist
Years active1958–2013
LabelsAntilles, DIW, Moers
Formerly ofThe Decoding Society, Last Exit
Websiteronaldshannonjackson.bandcamp.com

Ronald Shannon Jackson (January 12, 1940 – October 19, 2013) was an American jazz drummer from Fort Worth, Texas.[1] A pioneer of avant-garde jazz, free funk, and jazz fusion, he appeared on over 50 albums as a bandleader, sideman, arranger, and producer. Jackson and bassist Sirone are the only musicians to have performed and recorded with the three prime shapers of free jazz: pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler.[2]

Musician, Player and Listener magazine writers David Breskin and Rafi Zabor called him "the most stately free-jazz drummer in the history of the idiom, a regal and thundering presence."[3] Gary Giddins wrote "Jackson is an astounding drummer, as everyone agrees...he has emerged as a kind of all-purpose new-music connoisseur who brings a profound and unshakably individual approach to every playing situation."[4]

In 1979, he founded his own group, the Decoding Society,[1] playing what has been dubbed free funk: a blend of funk rhythm and free jazz improvisation.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference allmusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Jackson and Sirone are cited as having recorded with these artists in discographies of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Albert Ayler.
  3. ^ Zabor, Rafi; David Breskin (June 1981). "Ronald Shannon Jackson: The Future of Jazz Drumming". Musician, Player and Listener: 64.
  4. ^ Giddins, Gary (2004): Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century. Oxford; Oxford University Press, p. 14; ISBN 0195156072