* En anglais uniquement
A fixture with
Duke Ellington's Orchestra in the 1950s,
Quentin Jackson was
Duke's best "wa-wa" trombonist (an expert with the plunger mute) post-
Tricky Sam Nanton. His brother-in-law
Claude Jones (who played with
McKinney's Cotton Pickers) taught him trombone.
Jackson played with Zack Whyte (1930),
McKinney's Cotton Pickers (1931),
Don Redman's Orchestra (1932-1940),
Cab Calloway (1940-1948), and
Lucky Millinder. He took occasional solos with those groups, and in the early days was a ballad singer. But most important were his contributions to
Duke Ellington's music (1949-1960), both as a soloist and in the ensembles. After leaving
Ellington, he toured Europe with
Quincy Jones (1960), played with
Count Basie (1961-62), recorded with
Charles Mingus (1962), returned to
Ellington (1963), and worked with the big bands of
Louie Bellson and
Gerald Wilson.
Quentin Jackson was with the
Thad Jones/
Mel Lewis orchestra (1971-1975) near the end of his life. His only session as a leader resulted in four titles, in 1959, that were reissued by Swing. ~ Scott Yanow