Jackson, Franz (R.)

Jackson, Franz (R.), jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger; b. Rock Island, 111., Nov. 1, 1912. He studied at Chicago Musical Coll. He gigged with various bands before working with Cassino Simpson (1931), Carroll Dickerson (1932), Frankie Jaxon (1932), and drummer Fred Avendorph (late 1932). He toured with Reuben Reeves (spring 1933), with Eddie King and the Jesters (1933), Carroll Dickerson (1934), then joined bassist William Lyles (August 1934). He worked for Jimmie Noone for a year, was briefly with Fletcher Henderson. He then joined Roy Eldridge in Chicago, worked with him in N.Y. (1939–0). He went to Calif, with Earl Hines in October 1940, and the following year worked with Fats Waller. He was with Cootie Williams in N.Y. (early 1942), briefly with Pete Brown, and then worked in Boston with Frankie Newton. He toured with the Roy Eldridge Big Band in 1944, then (from late 1944) spent a long spell with the Wilbur de Paris Band. He was with Jesse Stone on a U.S.O. tour of the Pacific (1946), and continued touring with U.S.O. shows in late 1940s and early 1950s. He returned to Chicago where he formed his own Original Jass All Stars in 1956. The band played long successful residencies at the Red Arrow (Stickney, 111.), played in N.Y. (December 1968), and undertook several overseas U.S.O. tours including a tour of Vietnam in autumn 1969. In 1974, he recorded with Art Hodes, and from 1980 on has worked out of Chicago.

Discography

NO SAINTS(1957); Jass, Jass, Jass (1959); F.J.’s Original Jass Band (1961); Night at Red Arrow (1961); Good Old Days (1965); Let’s Have a Party (1981); Snag It (1990); Original Jass All-Stars (1993); Live at Windsor Jazz Festival I (1994).

—John Chilton,Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter