Calvin Jackson

Physical Description: 2 photographs : b&w (1 negative) ; 13 x 18 cm and 11 x 8 cm

Admin History/Bio: Calvin Jackson (May 26, 1919, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader.; Jackson played piano from childhood and studied at Juilliard and New York University. Early in his career he worked with with Frankie Fairfax, then moved to Hollywood from 1943-47 as an assistant director of music for MGM. In 1947 he recorded with Phil Moore and also under his own name as a solo pianist for Discovery Records. He played with Mildred Bailey in New York in 1948, then moved to Toronto in 1950. His quartet appeared regularly at the Park Plaza Hotel, and he hosted a weekly program featuring jazz music on Canadian television. Over the course of the 1950s and early 1960s he released several LPs for labels such as Columbia Records.; In 1957 he returned to Los Angeles, where he continued to work as a composer for film and television. He also arranged for Ray Charles at one point, receiving an arrangement and co-producer credit for Charles' 1964 release "Sweet and Sour Tears".; By the early 1980s, he had moved to San Diego County, where he lived in semi-retirement in the Point Loma neighborhood, giving music lessons on a piano in his apartment.; Calvin Jackson died in Encinitas, California, in 1985.

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