AboutOfficial Site: http://www.joe-jackson.com/oe Jackson embraced music early. Born in Burton on Trent and raised in Portsmouth, he picked up the violin at age 11 but soon switched to the piano. "By the time I was 14 or 15," he says, "I'd decided I wanted to be a composer -- and that the piano was going to be more helpful than the violin for that." A fan of The Beatles as well as Beethoven, he played his first gigs aged 16, in pubs, Naval bases and a Greek restaurant, both as solo pianist and in a jazz trio. Later, gigs covering radio hits with local bands such as The Misty Set and Edward Bear alternated with Jackson's concerts with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra; at the same time, he was reaping the fruits of a scholarship he'd won to study composition at London's Royal Academy of Music. "When I got into music, it wasn't the idea of being a virtuoso on any particular instrument that drew me," Jackson says. "Instead, I was interested in the whole kaleidoscopic world of music, the big picture." His recording career began with the release of a pair of singles by the short-lived band Arms and Legs. Jackson then saved up money earned as a pianist at the Playboy Club to make demos of his own songs. Impressed by the tapes, A&M Records signed Jackson and released his debut Look Sharp in 1979. The Joe Jackson Band's follow-ups I'm the Man (1979) and Beat Crazy (1980) joined their predecessor as high-charting successes, proving Jackson's ability as a hit-maker. After "taking a vacation" with Jumpin' Jive (1981), an energetic set of 40s swing and jump-blues tunes, Jackson found a new direction. With Night and Day in 1982, his natural eclecticism became more apparent as he "broke away from the New Wave guitar thing and became more myself." Body and Soul (1984), Big World (1986) and Blaze of Glory (1989) solidified Jackson's advance; it was at this time, too, that he began composing for films -- Mike's Murder in 1983 and Tucker in 1988. The instrumental album Will Power (1987), the double set Live 1980-86 and 1991's Laughter and Lust then led to another breakthrough. In 1994, with Night Music, Jackson entered a more mature phase of creativity. "I basically said goodbye to the pop world; I stopped thinking in terms of singles or radio airplay or videos. It was a struggle for a while, but now I feel much freer." Jackson's new direction was fully realized with 1997's Heaven and Hell (SK 60273), a song-cycle released in a new partnership with Sony Classical that has now yielded Symphony No. 1 (SK 64435). "When you have creative ambitions that go beyond three minutes and three chords," Jackson says, "you have to move beyond the parameters of how people define pop music." Jackson’s latest release for Sony Classical is Night and Day 2 (SK 89261), a sequel to one of his signature hits, the 1982 album Night and Day. The album explores the lives of a gallery of characters in New York over a 24-hour period, and it features such guest artists as Marianne Faithfull, Sussan Deyhim and a new Jackson discovery, Dale DeVere. Released earlier in the year on Sony Classical and Jackson's own imprint Manticore, Summer in the City (SK 89237) was recorded live in New York in August 1999. Jackson performs new versions of songs from his whole career, plus a number of cover versions. It features Jackson on piano and vocals, Graham Maby on bass and vocals, and Gary Burke on drums. Jackson's book, A Cure for Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage (which he describes as "a book about music thinly disguised as a memoir") was published last fall by Public Affairs in the U.S., by Transworld/Anchor in the U.K. and other English speaking territories, and by Satzwerk Verlag in German translation. Jackson embarked on an extensive promotional tour last autumn in the United States and United Kingdom. |
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