Michael Gregory Jackson (born August 28, 1953 in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, Connecticut) is an American guitarist and composer working in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, R&B, avant-garde, rock, blues, and free jazz. Early in his career, he used his given name, Michael Gregory Jackson. In 1983, when he signed with Island Records, Michael dropped Jackson and recorded under Michael Gregory to prevent mix-ups with the name of pop singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

. In 2013, he returned to using his full name Michael Gregory Jackson. During the 1970s and '80s, he worked with

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...

musicians

Oliver Lake Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano and flute. During the 1960s, Lake worked with the Black Art ...

, and

Baikida Carroll Baikida Carroll (born January 15, 1947) is an American jazz trumpeter. Carroll studied at Southern Illinois University and at the Armed Forces School of Music. Following this he became a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, where he di ...

. He worked with playwright

Ntozake Shange Ntozake Shange ( ;
FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018) ...

, poet

Jessica Hagedorn Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn (born 1949) is an American playwright, writer, poet, and multimedia performance artist. Biography Hagedorn is an American of mixed descent. She was born in Manila to a Scots-Irish-French-Filipino mother and a Spanish Fi ...

, and poet

Thulani Davis Thulani Davis (born 1949) is an American playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter. She is a graduate of Barnard College and attended graduate school at both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. In ...

at the Public Theater, New York City. Following this he began working more in rock,

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

, and R&B. He worked with

Walter Becker Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.Russonello, Giovanni,Listen t ...

of Steely Dan. In 1983

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...

produced his album ''Situation-X'' for

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. In 2013 he formed Michael Gregory Jackson's Clarity Quartet and Michael Gregory Jackson's Clarity TRiO. His groups have included Anthony Davis,

Bob Moses Robert Moses (1888–1981) was an American city planner. Robert Moses may also refer to: * Bob Moses (activist) (1935–2021), American educator and civil rights activist * Bob Moses, American football player in the 1962 Cotton Bowl Classic * Bob M ...

, David Murray,

Jerome Harris Jerome Harris (born April 5, 1953) is an American jazz musician specializing in electric and acoustic bass guitar, electric guitar, voice, and occasionally lap steel and small percussion. He came to prominence in 1978 playing bass guitar and gui ...

, Julius Hemphill,

Mark Helias Mark Helias (born October 1, 1950) is an American double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He started playing the double bass at the age of 20, and studied with Homer Mensch at Rutgers University from 1971 to 1974, then ...

Mark Trayle Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant (January 17, 1955 in San Jose, California – February 18, 2015 in Ventura, California) was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, improvi ...

Marty Ehrlich Marty Ehrlich (born May 31, 1955) is a multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, clarinets, flutes) and is considered one of the leading figures in avant-garde jazz. Biography Though born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the portion of Ehrlich's youth spent in ...

Wadada Leo Smith Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Free ...

, and

Will Calhoun William Calhoun (born July 22, 1964) is an American drummer who is a member of the rock band Living Colour. Career Calhoun was born in the Bronx, New York. He moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, where he graduated with a de ...

Discography

As leader

* ''Clarity'' (Bija, 1977) * ''Karmonic Suite'' (Improvising Artists, 1978) * ''Gifts'' (Arista Novus, 1979) * ''Heart & Center'' (Arista Novus, 1979) * ''Cowboys, Cartoons & Assorted Candy'' (Enja, 1982) * ''Situation X'' (Island, 1983) * ''What to Where'' (RCA Novus, 1988) * ''The Way We Used to To Do'' (Tiptoe, 1990) * ''Red'' (Golden, 1998) * ''Towards the Sun'' (Golden, 2002) * ''After Before'' (Golden, 2015) * ''Endogeny & Exogamy'' (Ethnicity Against the Error, 2015) * ''Spirit Signal Strata'' (Golden, 2017) * ''WHENUFINDITUWILLKNOW'' (Golden, 2019)

As sideman

With

* ''

Holding Together ''Holding Together'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist Oliver Lake recorded in 1975 for the Italian Black Saint label.

'' (Black Saint, 1976) * ''Life Dance of Is'' (Arista Novus, 1978) * ''Shine!'' (Arista Novus, 1979) * ''Plug It'' (Gramavision, 1983) * ''Zaki'' (hat ART, 1992) With

* ''

Spiritual Dimensions ''Spiritual Dimensions'' is a double album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith released on Cuneiform. The first disc is the fourth release by his Golden Ensemble, which began as a quartet but here expands into a quintet with two drummers, ...

'' (Cuneiform, 2009) * ''

Heart's Reflections ''Heart's Reflections'' is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The album was released on May 16, 2011 via Cuneiform Records label. Reception Glen Hall of ''Exclaim!'' stated "Trumpeter Smith wears his love for ...

'' (Cuneiform, 2011) * '' Najwa'' (TUM, 2017) With others *

Pheeroan akLaff Pheeroan akLaff (born Paul Maddox January 27, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder” ...

, ''Fits Like a Glove'' (Gramavision, 1983) *

Deanna Bogart Deanna Bogart (born September 5, 1959, Detroit, Michigan, United States), is an American blues/fusion singer, pianist, and saxophone player/composer/arranger/producer. Background She began her career in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area of ...

, ''New Address'' (Viceroots, 1996) *

Matthew Shipp Matthew Shipp (born December 7, 1960) is an American pianist, composer, and bandleader. Early life and education Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and began playing piano at six years old. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford B ...

, ''Matthew Shipp Plays the Music of Allen Lowe'' (Constant Sorrow, 2015)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Michael American jazz guitarists Novus Records artists Enja Records artists 1953 births Living people Musicians from New Haven, Connecticut Guitarists from Connecticut 20th-century American guitarists Jazz musicians from Connecticut Improvising Artists Records artists