Jackson, Quentin (Leonard; aka Butter)

Jackson, Quentin (Leonard; aka Butter), jazz trombonist, singer; b. Springfield, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1909; d. N.Y., Oct. 2, 1976. He was the brother-in-law of Claude Jones. At six he received piano lessons from his mother. At 12, he played violin in the school orch. He played trombone from age 18, worked with the Gerald Hobson Band and with Lloyd Byrd’s Buckeye Melodians, then with the Wesley Helvey Band from August 1929 until January 1930. he played in Zack Whyte’s Chocolate Beau Brummels, then joined McKinney’s Cotton Pickers as trombonist/vocalist from December 1930 until May 1932. He left to play in Don Redman’s Orch., and remained with him until December 1939. He was with Cab Calloway from January 1940 until August 1946, then toured Europe with Don Redman. He returned to the U.S. in December 1946 and rejoined Calloway until 1948. he was briefly with Lucky Millinder, then in Duke Ellington’s Orch. from Oct. 21, 1948 until Oct. 20, 1959. He toured Europe in Quincy Jones’s Band (1960), then joined Count Basie until autumn 1962. Later that year he played with Charles Mingus, and rejoined Ellington briefly in spring of 1963. He did some studio work and played in the house band at the Copacabana (N.Y.), late 1964. From the mid-1960s, he played in several big bands specially formed in N.Y. including Louis Bellson’s (1964) and Gerald Wilson’s (1966). He toured with Sammy Davis (1970), and with Al Cohn Band and Jones-Lewis (1971). He suffered a fatal heart attack while playing for Broadway show Guys and Dolls in the mid-1970s.

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