It's not often we post on a jazz musician but this weekend (October 19th) saw the passing of one of the worlds
great drummers, Ronald Shannon Jackson. Regardless of the music genre he inhabited and whether you may be
familiar or not with his name it's important that the mans life does not go unnoticed here.
From his early days Shannon Jackson had been been in the drum chair alongside some of the most uncompromising and creative musicians of their time, Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman.
Then from the mid-80's with his own group The Decoding Society, Shannon Jackson kicked down the boundaries
between jazz and rock and in collaboration with musicians like James “Blood” Ulmer, Vernon Reid and Bill Frisell created a hybrid sound completely unique.
Yesterday Vernon Reid posted on his Facebook page -
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"I just got the news that my most important teacher & mentor Ronald Shannon Jackson passed away this
morning. I am undone."
His presence on stage had a tangible warmth and spirituality, his visual appearance was striking and instantly recognisable, he powered an extraordinary drum kit as if part tribal and part martial art. The man was life. He was driven of spirit.
Here's a performance of him with The Decoding Society from October 1991at the Skopje Jazz Festival, Poland, and that he posted on YouTube himself 2 years ago. The piece is titled, aptly for today - "Sunday's Bells". A particularity good clip as it films him introducing the group and then beginning the set by playing a flute, he was known to play several instruments outside of the drums, before taking his position behind the kit to end with one of his amazing drum solos. And what a kit it is. Decorated in tribal or abstracted motifs it represents the ethnic nature of the composition perfectly.
(mono audio: left channel only)
