Dewey Jackson (June 21, 1900 – January 1, 1994) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trumpeter and

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

ist.

Early life

Jackson was a native of

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Career

Jackson began playing professionally at an early age, with the Odd Fellows Boys' Band (1912), Tommy Evans (1916–17), and George Reynolds's Keystone Band. He played with Charlie Creath on riverboats, then led his Golden Melody Band from 1920 to 1923. In 1926, he performed with his St. Louis Charleston Peacock Band on the Streckfus Steamboat Lines' steamer ''Capitol''. He continued to be a regular performer on riverboats into the early 1940s, heading his groups and working as a sideman for Creath and Fate Marable. He was briefly away from boats in 1926 when he played for four months with Andrew Preer at the

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a 20th-century nightclub in New York City. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue from 1923 to 1936, then briefly in the midtown Theater District until 1940. The club operated during the United States' era of P ...

in New York City. From 1937 to 1941, Jackson led the Dewey Jackson's Musical Ambassadors on riverboats but also led bands on land. Jackson played little in the 1940s but returned to work in the 1950s with Singleton Palmer and Don Ewell. He recorded four sides as a leader in 1926. The album ''Live at the Barrel, 1952'' with 10 tracks on the Delmark label was released in 2006. Among his sidemen were

Pops Foster George Murphy "Pops" Foster (May 19, 1892 – October 30, 1969) was an American jazz musician, best known for his vigorous slap bass playing of the string bass. He also played the tuba and trumpet professionally. Biography Foster was born to Ch ...

, Willie Humphrey, Don Stovall, Morris White, Albert Snaer, William Thornton Blue, and

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American Swing music, swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948� ...

References

* "Steamer Capitol." ''The

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'' (1 April 1926): p. 4. * "The Behrman Civic League invites you to attend Grand Moonlight River Ride and Dance DeLuxe." Ticket. 25 February 1926. Martin Shepard Office Records
Southeastern Architectural Archive
Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries

Sources

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

, Dewey Jacksonat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Dewey 1900 births 1994 deaths American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters American jazz cornetists 20th-century American trumpeters 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians