Jackson, Cliff (actually, Clifton Luther)
Jackson, Cliff (actually, Clifton Luther)
Jackson, Cliff (actually, Clifton Luther), jazz pianist; b. Culpeper, Va., July 19, 1902; d. N.Y, May 24, 1970. He played professionally in Washington and Atlantic City before moving to N.Y in 1923. He worked in Happy Rhone’s Club Orch. (1925), Lionel Howard’s Musical Aces (1926), and with Elmer Snowden before forming his own Krazy Kats in January 1927. The band played several residencies in N.Y: Capitol Palace, Murray’s Roseland, Lenox Club, etc. He worked mainly as a soloist or vocal accompanist through the 1930s. He was with Sidney Bechet at Nick’s in early 1940, then formed his own trio for N.Y.’s Cinderella Club. From autumn of 1944 until 1951 he was the house pianist at Cafe Society Downtown except for a 1946 tour with Eddie Condon. During the 1950s he was the featured pianist at several other N.Y. venues, and also worked in the Garvin Bushell Trio (1959), the J. C. Higginbotham Band (1960), and the Joe Thomas Band (1962). From 1963 he worked regularly in Tony Parenti’s Trio at Ryan’s, and also took part in filming of The Night They Raided Minsky’s.His widow is Maxine Sullivan. He made solo recordings in 1969 and played at the RX Room (Manhattan), until the night before he died.
Discography
Carolina Shout (1961).
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter