Carlton Jackson


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Carlton Jackson

CBA "Muddy Award" Winning Drummer

 by Rick Hall    
Article Reprint from the October 1999 BluesNotes   

    Carlton Jackson is the true eclectic musician. He's versatile, well-rounded, resourceful and discriminating. Carlton knows music! He feels it, tastes it, and breathes it. It's an integral part of who he is. Carlton radiates that feeling through his incredible gift of being a consummate musician; a drummer extraordinaire.

    Carlton Jackson won the Cascade Blues Association's "Muddy Award" last year for "Best Drummer". He won his first "Muddy" as part of the Terry Robb Trio in 1997. Up until recently, Carlton has been mostly noted for his extraordinary ability as a Jazz drummer, but he certainly is a man not to be pigeon-holed, because Carlton is a man of many styles. The CBA membership noted that the last two years.

    Carlton is a native Portlander. He grew up the youngest in a family with four brothers and a sister. There was music all around him. His mother and father had their records and so did his brothers and sister, and all the members of the family listened to their favorite music on the radio. Carlton was exposed to a lot of different styles of music through his family ties. He remembers, "We had 45s; we had 78s. I heard Wynonne Harris; I heard Plas Johnson doin' 'Caravan'; I heard T-Bone Walker and I heard a lot of stuff that was happening at the time .... I also heard Big Bands, Jump Blues and there was R&B Blues too.. I remember my mother comin' back from Texas one time from a vacation trip in the early '70s and she had a ton of 45s. She had King Floyd's 'Groove Me', Jimmy Nelson's 'T-99' and she had a 45 of Elmore James' 'Dust My Broom' backed with 'Happy Home'. The stereo was always going around the house. There were a lot of parties and gatherings where the music flowed."

    With Carlton's early and constant exposure to music, it was a cinch he would give it a try and in the 3rd grade, he started in the concert band. He played drums and continued through his high school years and on into college. Carlton relates, "It's a funny thing, I never really thought I'd have a career in music until I was in college when I got a call to go on the road. I was one year into it when Dan Siegel called me to play drums. Dan was a Jazz Fusion artist from Eugene''

    In high school, Carlton played in the concert band, the stage band, the pep band and the marching band. During his time in high school, he also was playing in other outside endeavors too. He continues, "I had good people behind me. That's the main thing. The late Bob Brewer started as my band teacher back in grade school and worked with me through jr. high. He was involved with me in my real formative years. He even came and picked me up early in the morning to get me to band practice because he was so sincere in trying to foster the music and my musical ability. Bob Brewer is a real influential spirit in what I do. I would like to hope that I epitomized what it was about Bob that got him excited about music. By the time I got into high school, I had Larry Morrell who became a major force in getting me some work in the outer sector. Besides teaching, Larry worked all the society bands around town like Woody Hite's band, George Reinmiller's, and Johnny Reitz's. He was working in all the bands who were playing the society dances and concerts. So, when Portland drummer, Mel Brown, took a leave of absence to rejoin Diana Ross in the mid-'70s, that left a gaping hole as far as a drummer who could play that kind of style. Larry Morrell got me into the natural flow of work. I was a good reader. I played styles. I could get with it pretty quick because I had been prepared for that. I actually played one of my first gigs with Carl Smith & The Natural Gas Company. That was were I first met Richard Burdell, Dan Balmer and Lester McFarland. I was young, but the older guys took me under their wing and fostered me. They saw something in me and helped me learn."

    Carlton went to David Douglas High School and graduated in 1979. In '74 and '75, he played with a group called Cruise Control. In '75 and '76, he was with Carl Smith. Then he hooked up with the society bands through 1980. He learned a lot playing shows with those bands. There were a lot of great veteran musicians in these groups. He gained invaluable seasoning playing with those guys. They backed many national touring artists and played a multitude and variety of gigs. He was playing with his peers who were molding him and shaping him continually. Carlton was playing with people and for people who were a lot older than he was and this brought about a great deal of maturation in him. Particularly in the way he thought and acted. He grew up quickly!

    Carlton had been going to college after high school. In 1981, he got the call to join Dan Siegel and go on the road. Carlton wound up in a motor home with five other guys. They went from one side of the country to the other. It was a great experience for him and he got to see and play in a bunch of places he'd never been before: Madison, Wisconsin, Boston, New York. They went to Texas and California. It was his first experience on the road and the first time he really thought about making a living playing music.

    Upon his return, Carlton started filling in with The Tom Grant Band, subbing for the regular drummer on occasion. By 1983, Carlton was the full time drummer with Tom Grant. He spent the next 13 years with Grant touring the entire country, many foreign countries and recording six albums with the band.

    During this time, Carlton was freelancing extensively and also working with a group started by Rick Mitchell called LeBon. There was Rick, Carlton, Billy Kennedy, Dan Balmer, Dave Captein and later, Terry Robb. "Future Funk" was the phrase Rick used to describe LeBon and its music. However, it had elements of Jazz, Blues and Funk all incorporated into it. The group played on and off throughout the '80s at Key Largo and other local haunts. It was a very popular gathering of musicians who had something to say. The group just recently had a reunion playing at this year's Blue Heron Music Festival in July. Needless to say, it was a magical evening of music.

    Basically, Carlton was trained in Jazz and Jazz Fusion and played that for a living, but he was influenced in his early days by the roots of Blues to a large extent. He could always play the Blues sitting in with someone or just jamming, but he never played the Blues on an extended basis. After he left the Tom Grant Band, Carlton hooked up with Bluesman Terry Robb. Carlton relates, "Pretty much everyone had cast me as a Jazz drummer. I had stints in Rock "n' Roll with Jon Koonce and his band Johnny & The Distractions in the early '80s, so I was able to do other things, but to everyone, I was a Jazz drummer. And, then I find myself in a bonafide Blues band when I joined Terry Robb. This was one of the first times in my life I had to sit and play the ethic of the Blues where you're basically a motor."

    Carlton had several other projects going at the same time he joined The Terry Robb Band. He had started an 18-piece big band with Dave Mills which is still going strong today. They play every Monday night at Berbati's Pan, downtown. Also, he plays with Dan Balmer and George Mitchell as part of The Dan Balmer Trio at the Jazz de Opus (downtown) every Sunday. It's something he's been doing now for four years. Carlton keeps himself busy these days playing three distinctive styles of music, the Big Band stuff, Jazz and Blues and loves it all! Carlton says, "The difference is negligible in each style. It's the feeling you bring to each that counts. With the Blues thing, we sometimes strip it down to the Acoustic Trio and I bring in hand percussion instruments. I love the fact we can do that. Then, with the electric band, we can crank it up and play some Hendrix or Cream. It's all in the feeling. I think that being eclectic just opens up your pallet as to the delectable things you can feed yourself. And, that's truly a wonderful thing! Music can have-so many different looks and graces about it. I think if you're myopic about it you're gonna miss out on some of the beautiful moments in all kinds of music.

    I want the audience to be inclusive in the music, so I talk to them sometimes, especially with the big band. I'll talk to them about what they're listening to or what motivated a piece, or a little historical thing. When I play music I want people to be able to get into it with me.

    Carlton has had many influences as a drummer throughout his development and sites: Harvey Mason, Mel Lewis, Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, Earl Palmer and Bernard Purdie on the Jazz side. As far as Blues drummers, Freddie Below and S.P. Leary come to the forefront. And, on the Rock side he lists Keith Moon of the Who, Carl Palmer of ELP and Mitch Mitchell of Jimi Hendrix's band as drummers of interest to him.

    Carlton has played on over 70 recordings throughout his career, the most recent being on Duffy Bishop's latest release, "Fly The Rocket" on Burnside Records. He has a number of upcoming projects he's working on, including a new recording from the Terry Robb Band. He also teaches music and is on staff at Morrison Bridge Music and he is a long-time member of The American Federation Of Musicians / Local 99.

    In closing, Carlton states, I would hope people can make it out to our big band gigs on Monday nights at Berbati's, because there's a Blues element to what we do and I think people would just be rewarded by seeing 18 veteran musicians on a stage all playing together makin' great music. And, I encourage people to come on out to the Candlelight every Wednesday to see and hear The Terry Robb Band with Alan Hager and Albert Reda. We play Blues and Blues-Rock and have a lot of fun doin' it. We pretty much have become a formidable force playing there every Wednesday night!"

 

© 1999 Cascade Blues Association