Jackson, Chubby (Greig Stewart)

Jackson, Chubby (Greig Stewart), jazz bassist, composer; b. N.Y., Oct. 25, 1918. Both of his parents were in show business. He was raised in Freeport, Long Island. He played clarinet in the school band at 16, then bought a bass from Arnold Fishkind. He studied at Ohio State Univ. He returned to N.Y (1937), joined Mike Riley’s Band, and was subsequently with Johnny Messner, Raymond Scott, Jan Savitt, Terry Shand, and Henry Busse before working with Charlie Barnet (1941–43). He worked regularly with Woody Herman from September 1943-46, and returned to the band several times in the late 1940s and 1950s. He worked with Charlie Ventura in 1947, and late that year toured Scandinavia with his own band. He returned to Herman in mid-1948, then again led his own big band in N.Y. He disbanded and freelanced in all-star units (including Charlie Ventura’s Big Four), then moved to Chicago in 1953. He did five years’ studio work and was resident compere on a children’s TV program, and worked briefly in Louis Armstrong All Stars early in 1954. He moved back to N.Y. in 1958, did extensive studio work, compered television shows, and was active as a successful songwriter. In the early 1960s, he organized his own bands for specific engagements, but also worked with various small groups including the Harold Baker Quartet (1963) and Joe Coleman’s Big 4 (1965). In the late 1960s, he worked mainly in Fla. with his own band. He moved to L.A. in the summer of 1971, and did prolific freelance work there and in Las Vegas. His son Duffy Jackson (b. Freeport, N.Y, July 3, 1953), is a drummer who has recorded as leader and sideman.

Discography

Jazz Journey (1945); C. /. Sextet and Big Band (1950); C. J. (1951); C’s Back (1957); I’m Entitled to You (1957); Big Three (1958); C. Takes Over (1958); Jazz Then Till Now (1958); Twist Calling (1962).

—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter