PAUL JACKSON 28/03/1947 – 18/03/2021

The funk won’t stop. Paul Jackson’s playing, teaching and influence will live long past his passing this March, 10 days short of his 74th birthday. He may not have had the ego (perhaps thankfully) of a Pastorious, or the eye-ware of George Clinton, but Jackson’s relentless funk, his ability to both ground a band but also rocket it to the funk stratosphere was incomparable.

Jackson of course will be best known as a founding father in 1973 of The Headhunters, alongside Herbie Hancock, Bernie Maupin, Harvey Mason and Bill Summers. With first Mason and then Mike Clark, his old pal from Oakland days, Jackson created a rhythm section that was the quintessential tight but loose partnership. Head Hunters and Thrust remain must-have recordings for anyone interested in the development of 20th Century music, let alone aficionados of fusion and funk. That their debut sold over a million units remains testimony to how the band caught but also created the zeitgeist of the times.

Hancock, like mentor Miles, was totally upfront about the influence of the likes of Sly and the Family Stone, so the influence of Larry Graham and inevitably James Jameson on Jackson hardly surprises. But Jackson was no thump and plucker and he had a gift for leaving space, perhaps derived from his early studies of classical instruments like the bassoon. It was his complex interplay with the likes of Clark that was his gift, earning him the double-edged soubriquet of a ‘musicians’ musician’. Slice a Headhunters cut any which way and Jackson’s grooves are to the fore: everyone will have a favourite lick but ‘Actual Proof’ isn’t the worst place to start.

Hancock moved on but the Headhunters grooved on, with their hit ‘God Make Me Funky’ influencing the likes of the Fugees. Whether it was in films (again with Hancock on Death Wish), or on sessions as different as Sonny Rollins or Santana, getting sampled by all from Coolio to DJ Quik, Jackson’s influence remained pervasive.

By the mid-1980s he’d upped sticks to Japan where he would eventually pass away, but before then he’d won new respect for his Jazz for Kids Project, while holding teaching posts at the Berklee School of Music. Meanwhile he found time to release a series of solo albums, starting with Black Octopus in 1979, and in time he literally found his voice, developing a soulful, sometimes husky vox style. His Trio, featuring his vocals, signed with Whirlwind Recordings and released the soul/funk fuelled but now poignantly titled Groove or Die in 2014. It was his last recording. A 30 date European tour was supposed to follow but was cancelled due to Jackson’s declining health, which, sadly never recovered. A Casio virtuoso and ice cream enjoyer, Jackson’s talents were probably not lauded enough in his lifetime. But God truly made him funky. And you can’t get a better testimonial than that.