Javon Jackson
Considering everything he’s accomplished in his career, it’s sometimes hard to believe that Javon Jackson just turned 40 this year. The tenor saxophonist, born in Carthage, Missouri and raised in Denver, went right from Boston’s Berklee College of Music to a spot in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, and has gone on to perform with jazz giants such as Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Charlie Haden and many more. He’s also cut ten albums as a leader, the most recent being Have You Heard on the Palmetto label.
Though the new CD emphasizes the funky side of his music, Jackson says he and his band will draw from a variety of moods and genres during their gig this Friday and Saturday night at Jazz at the Bistro. “I like to do a mixture,” says Jackson. “We’ll be promoting the new record, but I still love to do straight-ahead things, too.”
Guitarist
Mark Whitfield, a key member of the ensemble on
Have You Heard, will be with Jackson this weekend, along with bassist
Reuben Rogers, who works with vocalist Dianne Reeves, and drummer John Lampkin, a veteran of the bands of Kenny Garrett and Donald Harrison. (East St. Louis’s Terreon Gully plays drums on the CD and often performs with Jackson, but he’s currently on tour with David Sanborn and was thus unavailable for the St. Louis dates.)
It’s a versatile group of musicians, in keeping with Jackson’s wide-ranging tastes. “I like to listen to a lot of different types of music. It’s part of my upbringing. When I was a young person, I heard Curtis Mayfield, Earth Wind and Fire, Funkadelic, and in some ways, I’m closer to that than I would be to Charlie Parker.”
For Jackson, incorporating all these influences into his music is a natural development, not an attempt to pander to commercial interests. “I’ve heard people say things like “it’s smooth,” or that I’m trying to make a lot of money,” says Jackson. But although his current music incorporates funk backbeats and electric instrumentation, “I wouldn’t call it smooth, because there’s aggression in it. The smooth sound I hear, there’s not a lot of aggression in it, not a lot of tension.”
And indeed, in many ways Have You Heard feels more like the 21st century equivalent to some of the Blue Note classics from the Sixties than the homogenized product often purveyed these days under the smooth jazz banner. Yes, there’s the influence of blues, soul and funk, beats that will get your feet tapping, and tunes that will be familiar from the pop and R&B charts, but there’s also a distinct personal sensibility, with original tunes, some imaginative arrangements and an emphasis on creative improvisation.
“I come on stage, and I might play “Giant Steps,” or I might turn around and play “That’s The Way I Feel About 'Cha,” he says, noting the long tradition of using pop songs as springboards for jazz performances. “I mean, Herbie comes out, and he might play Bonnie Raitt. Miles might come out and play Cindy Lauper, or in the same breath he might come out and play “Round Midnight.”
Jackson’s music may have gotten funkier in recent years, but he’s also become more concerned with making each record a satisfying experience as a whole. “Being with a producer like Craig Street during the time I was at Blue Note really helped me. Craig let me know that each album can be like a book, with high points, low points, crying points, or a lot of laughter. You have all these different emotions that you can try to grasp. It’s like driving down the street – you might start out in an urban area, and then go out in the country, get on the highway, and then you might end up in a nice suburban area, but it’s still a nice ride.”
And though conceptually he’s been influenced by the music of his own time, Jackson’s saxophone sound is based firmly in the jazz tradition. “My father took me to see Sonny Stitt when I was 13, so he had a big influence on me early. Then it was Dexter Gordon. Then, later on, the guy that probably had the biggest impact, although it’s not as much noted, is Sonny Rollins – a dark sound, full. You just feel like every note wraps itself around you,” Jackson says. “Sonny was my main man, and then Joe Henderson definitely came in there. To me, Joe is a like to branch off of that Sonny Rollins tree. I love Eddie Harris – I love his sound, and some people feel that I’m reminiscent of Eddie at points. I don’t know about that, but I know I was a big fan of his, and he was a big supporter of mine.”
He also values the personal connections he’s forged with his elders. “I’ve been fortunate – being with Art Blakey, being in Elvin’s band, I’ve been with Freddie Hubbard for the last nine or ten years, working with Donald Byrd, so I’ve always been able to get the first-hand information.”
In particular, Blakey has proved to be a strong and lasting influence. “First of all, as a bandleader, Art Blakey was phenomenal, ” says Jackson, citing the long list of Jazz Messengers who have gone on to enjoy careers as leaders, “and also how he was able to deal with all these different personalities and egos and make it work. That’s a tough thing to do as a bandleader, and he was able to do it over a long period of time. But he also had a great ability at allowing musicians to be themselves, and to play and have fun.”
Jackson says he also learned from Blakey’s “connection with the audience – the way he spoke to the audience, the way he thanked the audience and appreciated them, his professionalism, his dedication to the art form, all that kind of stuff – you can’t get that in school. If I asked him a question about Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Charlie Parker or Thelonious Monk – it was first-hand information. Those were his peers. It was just unbelievable, man. Going out with Art just brought it down home.”
Working with Blakey also helped Jackson develop relationships with other Messengers who had come before him. “Freddie Hubbard – he and I have gotten to be very, very close. He’s almost like a father figure, or a big brother. We’ve got that kind of family relationship, and that’s another thing that Art Blakey’s band afforded me, because I’ve worked with Cedar Walton, I’ve worked with Curtis Fuller, I’ve worked with Donald Byrd, and those were all Messengers, man, so it’s like one big fraternity.” .
Jackson has learned much from the past, but he’s determined to forge his own path into the future, even if he stumbles occasionally. “You have to be risky. You have to take a risk. Sometimes if you put some money in the stock market you might lose, but more times than not, you’re going to win. You just have to be a little smart, a little calculated with it, but you have to take that risk. At the end of the day, that’s how I’m going to grow."
Thanks to Lindsay Brust for her help in arranging this interview.
(Edited 11/1105 to fix a typo.)
