Saxophonist Eldredge Jackson is passionate about jazz
BY YVETTE WALKER ywalker@opubco.com The Oklahoman Published: August 12, 2011
You could say Eldredge Jackson grew up with a saxophone in his hands.
Almost. The protege of the late jazz legend Wayman Tisdale first began playing piano as a boy, but by then he already knew he’d be a sax man. He just had to wait until joining sixth-grade band before he could learn what would become his signature instrument.
Jackson, who is playing two jazz and comedy shows in Oklahoma City and Tulsa this weekend, is passionate about the sax, about music and about jazz. Smooth, rhythmic, silky jazz. It’s not unlike Jackson himself, who is quite a mellow fellow.
It’s also a natural outgrowth of his background — Jackson was born in jazz capital New Orleans, and was raised in his father’s church in Tulsa. He was surrounded by musicians in his family, and later was produced by Tisdale. Not a bad pedigree. But first came Jackson’s defining moment at a gospel concert when he was 4 years old. He was watching the iconic Vernard Johnson, who is credited with popularizing the saxophone in church music.
“He had this big mass choir accompanying him. I remember pointing at the stage and telling my mom that I want to be like that guy,” Jackson said in a telephone interview last week.
New Orleans and Tulsa’s Hope of Glory Church (under his father, pastor Ernest L. Jackson) helped shape his style of playing. He calls it a “musical gumbo,” with a jazz-gospel feel.
Indeed, the gumbo works. In concert, Jackson understands how to work a crowd, leaving the stage and taking his sax with a remote microphone into the audience. He understands the intimate nature of jazz, stopping at tables to play, making the listener feel as if she and Jackson are the only people in the room.
But he also understands the character of the crowd, and the appeal of the call and response technique that has its roots in gospel. All that, and powerful songwriting, can make a good musician into someone great. But first you have to get your start. For Jackson, it was Tisdale, and a friendship that came full circle. Knowing Wayman Jackson knew Tisdale as a boy in Tulsa. As boys, the two had a lot in common. “We met at an early age back in junior high school. Wayman was in the same class and grade as my older brother. His father also was pastor of a church, so his father and mine were in the same church circle. Wayman played bass at his dad’s church, and I played sax in my dad’s church, so we knew each other.” But they didn’t work together musically until years later, when Tisdale was already playing professional basketball in the NBA. Jackson laughs when he tells the story.
“I was playing in one of the jazz festivals in Tulsa when (Tisdale) was home for the summer. I asked him to back me up on bass. So I like to say that I got Wayman started (in jazz).”
And when Jackson got the chance to make his debut CD, “Listening Pleasure,” Tisdale produced the disc, wrote six songs and played bass and other instruments on the tracks.
In a 2007 online video to promote the CD project, interviews of Tisdale and Jackson are interspersed. Tisdale, with his trademark smile and open face, talks glowingly about Jackson: “I had such a great time working with such a great artist. His playing will speak for itself … but more than anything, you can feel what’s about to happen.”
“Listening Pleasure” came out in October 2008, seven months before Tisdale died of cancer. Jackson remembers the day he got the phone call.
“I was in the car headed to an appointment, and I remember getting a phone call from a very close friend of ours with the news, before it hit the media. I had to pull the car over and gather my thoughts,” he said.
Moving on Despite the tragedy, Jackson went on to tour and promote the CD in 2009 and part of 2010, remembering what Tisdale always had told him.
“One of the things that I learned from Wayman early on is that he taught me to be myself. That’s definitely something that I learned from him, and I continue to keep that in my memory.”
In explanation, Jackson referred to Tisdale’s sound, noting that whenever the first few notes of his music are played, you know it’s a Wayman Tisdale song. “He always said that I should use the talent that God has given me and not to emulate or copy anyone else. So that when people are listening to the first few notes of my song they would know that’s my music, my signature sound.”
And his signature sound also includes lots of instruments, in the tradition of Prince and Todd Rundgren. In addition to keyboards and sax, Jackson also plays bass guitar, rhythm guitar and the drums. “I’m just blessed with the musical talent,” he said, sincerely. “It’s almost second nature to play.”
Jackson is married and has two sons. How does his music work into family life?
“My family is very supportive. My wife is involved on the marketing and merchandising side. And my sons attend as many concerts as they can. They enjoy the music and the show. It pleases me to see how they react.”
A proud moment for Jackson was when his son, who was 13 at the time, discovered him on iTunes. “I told him to type in my name. He turned around and asked, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Just do it.’ His face just lit up when he saw me on there.”
When asked if his sons will follow in the family’s musical footsteps, he said no. “They have the musical talent but they don’t have the passion for music. That’s the big difference between when I was growing up and what they are doing. I try to give them the space to do what they want to do. I’m not trying to force them into the music.”
Jackson said it’s a parenting style he learned from his father. “He was a minister, and he didn’t force me to go into the ministry. I tried to take that same approach with my kids and give them the same space to be what God created them to be.”