About Jack Jackson
Trained as a jazz drummer, jazz vibe player, and orchestral percussionist, Jack Jackson graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1974. In 1975 he moved to Tucson, then Phoenix, Arizona, all the while working as a drummer in nightclubs and other venues. In 1976 he began practicing bass guitar while continuing to work as a drummer, then joined the U.S. Air Force Band career field in 1981 as a bass guitar player once he had enough skill and experience on that instrument. With various Air Force ensembles Jack toured all over the southeastern U.S. performing concerts while stationed in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1985 Jack became a music arranger for the Air Force Band, using training previously acquired at Berklee. The Air Force moved Jack to Anchorage, Alaska in 1987 to write custom music arrangements for a large jazz band being trimmed to a medium sized jazz band. By this time Jack was playing piano as well as bass guitar, drums, and vibes, moonlighting as a civilian musician in Anchorage as well as performing concerts all around Alaska for the Air Force. He became the primary music planner and arranger for several high profile Air Force concert series at the Alaska Performing Arts Center in Anchorage. Upon retirement from the Air Force in 2001, Jack built a web site and recorded content to put in it to promote bands for private events in the Anchorage area. From 2010 to 2014 he worked as a cruise ship musician, playing bass guitar with house orchestras for three contracts, then three more contracts as a pianist with a jazz quartet featuring Canadian vocalist George Evans.