Milt Jackson is one of the co-founders of
the famous Modern Jazz Quartet
whose popularity Jackson attributes to
"an uncanny ability to take classical
music and improvise on it, integrating
it with jazz and pop."
"I originally started out as a singer, doing gospel duets with my brother Alvin when I was only seven," says vibraphone virtuoso Milt Jackson. "Then I took piano when I was eleven and twelve...till the money ran out. I got the rest of my musical training in high school. I ended up playing vibes because it is the instrument most like the human voice, with one exception: once a singer adopts a style, it doesn't usually change much, but with the vibes there is so much variation and you can endlessly improvise."
During his six decades in the business he has played and collaborated with such pioneers at Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Coleman Hawkins.
The Milt Jackson talent has been acknowledged here in the United States and around the world. He is a winner of a National Music Award, the French Bicentennial Award, and an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music. His work has earned him a place in both the Percussion Hall of Fame and in "Downbeat" Magazine's Hall of Fame.
