Jack Six (July 26, 1930 – March 14, 2015) was an American jazz double-bassist and composer. Six was born in

Danville, Illinois Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The populations was 29,204 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Danville micropolitan area. History The area that is now Danville was on ...

, and initially learned trumpet as a teenager before switching to bass. He studied at

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

in 1955–1956, then played in several

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

s, including the

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombone, trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-to ...

band after Dorsey's death (under Warren Covington's direction) and the bands of Claude Thornhill and

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) 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 roo ...

. In the first half of the 1960s he played with Don Elliott,

Jimmy Raney James Elbert Raney (August 20, 1927 – May 10, 1995) was an American jazz guitarist, born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, known for his work from 1951 to 1952 and then from 1953 to 1954 with the Red Norvo trio (replacing Tal Farlow) a ...

, Kenny Davern, The Dukes of Dixieland, and

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz Flute, flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet ...

; he continued working with Davern alongside Dick Wellstood as the house band for the Ferryboat, a club in Brielle, New Jersey. He became a member of

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

's ensemble in 1968, remaining with Brubeck until 1974, and also played with Tal Farlow during this time. In the 1970s he worked with Illinois Jacquet and

Jay McShann James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and B ...

, among others. He directed musical events at a casino in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

in the early 1980s and recorded with Susannah McCorkle and Jack Reilly; later that decade he returned to Brubeck's ensemble, remaining with him until he retired in the 1990s.

Discography

With

* ''Blues Roots'' (Columbia, 1968) * ''Compadres'' (Columbia, 1968) * ''The Gates of Justice'' (Decca, 1969) * ''Dave Brubeck Trio with Gerry Mulligan & the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra'' (MCA, 1971) * ''Summit Sessions'' (Columbia, 1971) * ''The Last Set at Newport'' (Atlantic, 1972) * ''We're All Together Again for the First Time'' (Atlantic, 1973) * ''Live at the Berlin Philharmonie'' (CBS, 1973) * ''All the Things We Are'' (Atlantic, 1976) * ''Quiet as the Moon'' (MusicMasters, 1991) * ''Once When I Was Very Young'' (MusicMasters, 1992) * ''Late Night Brubeck'' (Telarc, 1994) * ''Young Lions & Old Tigers'' (Telarc, 1995) * ''Nightshift'' (Telarc, 1995) * ''To Hope! A Celebration'' (Telarc, 1996) * ''So What's New?'' (Telarc, 1998) * ''Double Live from the USA & UK'' (Telarc, 2001) With

* ''Herbie Mann's African Suite'' (United Artists, 1959) * ''My Kinda Groove'' (Atlantic, 1965) * ''The Beat Goes On'' (Atlantic, 1967) With Jack Reilly * ''Blue-Sean-Green'' (Unichrom, 1994) * ''Masks'' (Unichrom, 1998) * ''November'' (Progressive, 2003) With others *

, ''The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra'' (Brunswick, 1958) * Dukes of Dixieland, ''We Gotta Shout!'' (CBS, 1963) * Tal Farlow, ''The Return of Tal Farlow'' (Prestige, 1970) * Tal Farlow, ''Guitar Player'' (Prestige, 1974) *

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

, ''Live Down Under 1973'' (Jazz Band 1997) *

Marty Grosz Martin Oliver Grosz (born February 28, 1930) is a German-born American jazz guitarist, banjoist, vocalist, and composer born in Berlin, Germany, the son of artist George Grosz. He performed with Bob Wilber and wrote arrangements for him. He has a ...

, ''I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music'' (Aviva, 1982) *

, ''1954 and 1959'' (Status, 1996) * Illinois Jacquet, ''Birthday Party Vol. 2'' (JRC, 1976) * Susannah McCorkle, ''Over the Rainbow'' (Jazz Alliance, 1996) *

, ''

The Big Apple Bash ''The Big Apple Bash'' is an album by jazz pianist Jay McShann, recorded in 1978 and released by the Atlantic label. Reception The ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'' wrote that "McShann's vocals are nice and relaxed, a bit reminiscent of Hoagy Carmichael. ...

'' (Atlantic, 1979) *

Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing t ...

, ''Watching & Waiting'' (DRG, 1999) * Gerry Mulligan, ''The Complete 1972 Berlin Concert'' (Jazz Row, 2009) *

Richard Peaslee Richard Peaslee (June 13, 1930, New York NY – August 20, 2016) was a composer who worked in a variety of idioms, including chorus, orchestra, dance, and soundtracks for film and television, but he was most active as a composer for the theatre. Ed ...

, ''Passage'' (Linear B 1980) *

Dave Pike David Samuel Pike (March 23, 1938 – October 3, 2015) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. He appeared on many albums by Nick Brignola, Paul Bley and Kenny Clarke, Bill Evans, and Herbie Mann. He also recorded extensively as l ...

, ''Manhattan Latin'' (Decca, 1964) *

Nutty Squirrels ''Nutty'' was a British comic magazine that ran for 292 issues from 16 February 1980 to 14 September 1985, when it merged with '' The Dandy''. Published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, ''Nutty'' was an attempt to create a more lively and chaotic co ...

, ''The Nutty Squirrels'' (Hanover, 1959) *

Francis Thorne Francis Thorne (June 23, 1922 – March 7, 2017) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and grandson of the writer Gustav Kobbé. Life Francis Burritt Thorne, Jr. was born in Bay Shore, New York. His father was a ragtime piani ...

, ''Irving Berlin Songs'' (CRI, 1988) * Francis Thorne, ''Porter On My Mind'' (CRI, 1990)

References

*"Jack Six". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed.

Barry Kernfeld Barry Dean Kernfeld (born August 11, 1950) is an American musicologist and jazz saxophonist who has researched and published extensively about the history of jazz and the biographies of its musicians. Education In 1968, Kernfeld enrolled at ...

. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Six, Jack 1930 births 2015 deaths American jazz double-bassists American male double-bassists American jazz composers Jazz musicians from Illinois Dave Brubeck Quartet members