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San Francisco Jazz Legend Frank Jackson to Play Three Nights at Jazz at Pearl’s in North Beach |
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Written by Jerry Karp
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Thursday, 03 August 2006 |
 Frank Jackson
Frank Jackson is a giant of the Bay Area jazz scene. For more than 50
years, Frank has been serving up his impeccable, elegant piano style,
smooth warm vocals and unique phrasing. Jackson's place in San
Francisco jazz history was recently solidified even more forcibly, as
he was prominently featured in Harlem of the West, the recent
best-selling history of the Fillmore Street jazz era of the 1950s and
60s.
On Friday-Sunday, August 4-6, 2006 (showtimes 8:00 and 10:00 pm
nightly), Jackson will take the stage at popular North Beach jazz spot
Jazz at Pearl’s for a three-night set featuring a trio of revered San
Francisco jazz veterans, including the legendary Noel Jewkes on
saxophone and clarinet, Al Obidinski on bass and Omar Clay on drums.
All three have been frequent collaborators of Jackson’s for years, and
the honey-toned Jewkes, in particular, has a San Francisco Bay Area
jazz legacy almost on a par with Jackson's. Like Jackson a veteran of
famed nightclub Bop City, the shining crown of the Fillmore District's
jazz glory, Jewkes has been performing in town with just about every
vocalist and instrumentalist imaginable since 1964.
As a traditional jazz musician and one of the most accomplished
interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Frank Jackson is a
consummate entertainer, able to fulfill practically any request. He has
an astonishing knowledge of the length and breadth of the jazz
repertoire. As audience members learn to their delight, no jazz
standard is too obscure to be included in Jackson’s vast repertoire.
Jackson's jazz education accelerated during his years as the house
pianist at San Francisco's legendary nightclub, Jimbo’s Bop City.
Musicians traveling up and down the West Coast would drop in at Bop
City to jam after their gigs or just to see who was in town. Being in
the house band, Jackson got the chance to associate with practically
everyone: Charlie "Bird" Parker, Billie Holiday, Frank Foster, Ben
Webster, Ella Fitzgerald, Harold Land, Joe Comfort, Errol Garner, Art
"God" Tatum, Chet Baker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones,
Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong make up the “short list.”
One frequent visitor to Jimbo’s who made a lasting impression on
Jackson’s developing style was Nat “King" Cole. Listeners can hear
Cole’s influence in Jackson’s relaxed, audience-embracing style, but
it’s also clear that over the years, Jackson has developed a sound that
is solely his own.
In addition to his Bop City stagemates, Frank has performed over the
years with such jazz luminaries as Lionel Hampton, Gerald Wilson, Cal
Tjader, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Ruth Brown, T-Bone Walker, Jimmy
Witherspoon, Ernestine Anderson, Ernie Andrews, Harold Jones, Omar
Clay, Rufus Reid, Jeff Chambers, Larry Vuckovich, Noel Jewkes and Mary
Stallings.
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 Saturday, 22 November 2008
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