Calvin Jackson (drummer)

Calvin Jackson (January 22, 1961, in Holly Springs, Mississippi – February 10, 2015, in Senatobia, Mississippi)[1][2] was an American drummer from north Mississippi. He is considered an innovator in the Hill country blues style of drumming, having incorporated elements of the regional Fife and drum bands style in the blues band setting.[3][4][5]

As a young teen he sang in the choir, and then joined the Jubilee Hummingbirds.[6] At age 16, Jackson was drumming with bluesman R. L. Burnside. Burnside's daughter Linda had Jackson's son 1978, Cedric Burnside, and they would later marry.[7] Jackson appeared in recordings of Burnside's band, sometimes called The Sound Machine,[8] starting in 1979.[9] Beside the traditional influence, David Evans credited him with bringing in the modern funk, RnB and soul influences of the band.[10]

Later Jackson appeared on record with Junior Kimbrough (including in the cult documentary, Deep Blues[11]), Jessie Mae Hemphill, CeDell Davis,[12] R.L. Boyce[13] and Markus James[14][15][16] He performed live with Lightnin' Malcolm,[2] Sean "Bad" Apple,[citation needed] and Little Joe Ayers.[17]

In the mid 1990s he moved to the Netherlands to continue his musical career[18][19] His son Cedric would take his place at Burnside's drums. In 1999 he released the only album under his own name, Calvin Jackson & Mississippi Bound's Goin' Down South.[12][20] Participating were Cass Ian (vocals, guitar), Caret De Neeve (double bass) and Ludo "lazy lew" Beckers (harmonica). The album was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category of "Best New Artist Debut".[21]

  1. ^ "Obituaries - Calvin Jackson". Living Blues. No. 236. April 2015. p. 93.
  2. ^ a b Daniel Léon (2015-02-12). "Calvin Jackson est mort" (in French). Soul Bag. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
  3. ^ David Evans (2003). "Fife and drum Band". In John Shepherd; David Horn; Dave Laing; Paul Oliver; Peter Wicke (eds.). Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 2: Performance and Production. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Part 1, Performance and Production. A&C Black. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-1-84714-472-0.
  4. ^ Robert Palmer. Liner notes to Too Bad Jim, 1994. (Fat Possum 80307; scan)
  5. ^ Cub Koda. "Sound Machine Groove - review". Allmusic.
  6. ^ Liner notes, Goin' Down South, 1999
  7. ^ "Cedric Burnside interviewed by Jonny Meister". Mississippi Blues Project. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
  8. ^ "A memoriam to bluesman R.L. Burnside, part 2". The South Reporter. 2005-09-29. Archived from the original on May 16, 2007. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
  9. ^ Wirz, S. Illustrated R. L. Burnside discography
  10. ^ David Evans, notes to High Water 410 EP, 1980 (scan), and to Sound Machine Groove, 1981/1997 (scan).
  11. ^ Deep Blues at IMDb
  12. ^ a b "Calvin Jackson". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  13. ^ "Supersized Image". Ebreggae.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
  14. ^ Rhys Williams. "Markus James - Head For the Hills album review". Blues Blast Magazine.
  15. ^ "Roots Blues Traveler Markus James Releases New Album, Head for the Hills". Firenze Records. 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-11-18 – via Dirty South TV.
  16. ^ Markus James. Gourd Banjo and Hambone on a Mississippi Porch. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  17. ^ Little Joe Ayers, a set on Flickr, by Steve Likens
  18. ^ Komara, Edward, ed. (2005). "Jackson, Calvin (2)". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415926997.
  19. ^ Birgitta Larsson. Kenny Brown and Cedric Burnside, Jefferson interview. Issue 141, March 2004. Swedish original Archived 2017-06-30 at the Wayback Machine, via Google Translate
  20. ^ Bill Mitchell (March 2000). "BluesBytes review".
  21. ^ "PastBlues Your blues". Pastblues.com. Retrieved 2015-07-11.