Michael Gregory Jackson (born August 28, 1953 in

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

, Connecticut) is an American guitarist and composer working in

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 ...

, R&B, avant-garde, rock, blues, and free jazz. Early in his career, he used his given name, Michael Gregory Jackson. In 1983, when he signed with Island Records, Michael dropped Jackson and recorded under Michael Gregory to prevent mix-ups with the name of pop singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

. In 2013, he returned to using his full name Michael Gregory Jackson. Jackson spent the 1970s in western Massachusetts, earning praise from critics and free-jazz followers for his first two solo albums. During the 1970s and '80s, he worked with

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 1 ...

musicians

Oliver Lake Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American List of jazz saxophonists, jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano saxophone, soprano and flute. D ...

, and

Baikida Carroll Baikida Carroll (born January 15, 1947) is an American jazz trumpeter. Carroll studied at Southern Illinois University and at the Armed Forces School of Music. Following this he became a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, where he dir ...

. He worked with playwright

Ntozake Shange Ntozake Shange ( ;
FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018 ...

, poet

Jessica Hagedorn Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn (born May 29, 1949) is an American playwright, writer, poet, and multimedia performance artist. Biography Hagedorn is an of mixed descent. She was born in Manila, Philippines, to a mother of Scots-Irish, French, and Fil ...

, and poet

Thulani Davis Thulani Davis (born July 19, 1949) is an American playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter. She is a graduate of Barnard College and attended graduate school at both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Univers ...

at the Public Theater, New York City. Following this he began working more in rock,

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

, and R&B. He worked with

Walter Becker Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.Russonello, Giovanni,Listen to ...

of Steely Dan. In 1983

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

produced his album ''Situation-X'' for

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

. In 2013 he formed Michael Gregory Jackson's Clarity Quartet and Michael Gregory Jackson's Clarity TRiO. His groups have included

Anthony Davis Anthony Marshon Davis Jr. (born March 11, 1993), nicknamed "AD" and "the Brow", is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Davis, a Power forward (basketball), power f ...

, Bob Moses, David Murray,

Jerome Harris Jerome Harris (born April 5, 1953) is an American jazz musician specializing in electric and acoustic bass guitar, electric guitar, voice, and occasionally lap steel and small percussion. He came to prominence in 1978 playing bass guitar and g ...

Julius Hemphill Julius Arthur Hemphill (January 24, 1938 – April 2, 1995) was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone, less often on soprano and tenor saxophones and flute. Biography Hemphill was born in Fort Worth, Texas, ...

Mark Helias Mark Helias (born October 1, 1950) is an American double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He started playing the double bass at the age of 20, and studied with Homer Mensch at Rutgers University from 1971 to 1974, then ...

Mark Trayle Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant (January 17, 1955, in San Jose, California – February 18, 2015, in Ventura, California) was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, impro ...

, Marty Ehrlich,

Wadada Leo Smith Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the field of creative music. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Freedom Summers'', released on ...

, and

Will Calhoun William Calhoun (born July 22, 1964) is an American drummer who is a member of the rock band Living Colour. Career Calhoun was born in the Bronx, New York. He moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, where he graduated with a mu ...

Discography

As leader

* ''Clarity'' (Bija, 1977) * ''Karmonic Suite'' (Improvising Artists, 1978) * ''Gifts'' (Arista Novus, 1979) * ''Heart & Center'' (Arista Novus, 1979) * ''Cowboys, Cartoons & Assorted Candy'' (Enja, 1982) * ''Situation X'' (Island, 1983) * ''What to Where'' (RCA Novus, 1988) * ''The Way We Used to To Do'' (Tiptoe, 1990) * ''Red'' (Golden, 1998) * ''Towards the Sun'' (Golden, 2002) * ''After Before'' (Golden, 2015) * ''Endogeny & Exogamy'' (Ethnicity Against the Error, 2015) * ''Spirit Signal Strata'' (Golden, 2017) * ''WHENUFINDITUWILLKNOW'' (Golden, 2019)

As sideman

With

* '' Holding Together'' (Black Saint, 1976) * ''Life Dance of Is'' (Arista Novus, 1978) * ''Shine!'' (Arista Novus, 1979) * ''Plug It'' (Gramavision, 1983) * ''Zaki'' (hat ART, 1992) With

* '' Spiritual Dimensions'' (Cuneiform, 2009) * ''

Heart's Reflections ''Heart's Reflections'' is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The album was released on May 16, 2011 via Cuneiform Records label. Reception Glen Hall of ''Exclaim!'' stated "Trumpeter Smith wears his love for ...

'' (Cuneiform, 2011) * '' Najwa'' (TUM, 2017) With others * Pheeroan akLaff, ''Fits Like a Glove'' (Gramavision, 1983) * Deanna Bogart, ''New Address'' (Viceroots, 1996) *

Matthew Shipp Matthew Shipp (born December 7, 1960) is an American avant-garde jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. Early life and education Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown. He began playing ...

, ''Matthew Shipp Plays the Music of Allen Lowe'' (Constant Sorrow, 2015)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Michael American jazz guitarists Novus Records artists Enja Records artists 1953 births Living people Musicians from New Haven, Connecticut Guitarists from Connecticut 20th-century American guitarists Jazz musicians from Connecticut Improvising Artists Records artists 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American guitarists African-American guitarists African-American jazz guitarists American lead guitarists African-American songwriters