Music
Oliver Jackson
1933–1994 · jazz drummer
Detroit drummer, nicknamed Bops Junior, who played the Blue Bird Inn with Billy Mitchell, toured a tap-and-drums act with Eddie Locke, and became a first-call swing drummer in New York.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
New York City
aged 61- Also known as
- Bops Junior
- Detroit years
- 1933–1954
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Oliver Jackson was born in Detroit and was playing in the 1940s with Thad Jones, Tommy Flanagan and Wardell Gray while still a teenager. With his friend and fellow drummer Eddie Locke he created a variety act called Bop & Locke, combining comedy, dance and drumming, which went on to play New York's Apollo Theater. In the early 1950s he drummed in saxophonist Billy Mitchell's house band at the Blue Bird Inn on Tireman Avenue, where his brother Ali Jackson played bass. After moving to New York in the mid-1950s he became a swing-minded mainstay, working with Yusef Lateef, Charlie Shavers, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Earl Hines and Oscar Peterson, and he later toured widely in Europe with the JPJ Quartet and his own groups. In 1977 he joined old Detroit friends Tommy Flanagan, Major Holley and Eddie Locke on the album Jivin' with the Refugees from Hastings Street. He died in New York in 1994.
Highlights
- Played in 1940s Detroit with Thad Jones, Tommy Flanagan and Wardell Gray
- Created the Bop & Locke variety act with Eddie Locke
- Drummer in Billy Mitchell's Blue Bird Inn house band
- Worked with Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton and Earl Hines
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · early 1950s
Blue Bird Inn
Closed
Jackson and his bassist brother Ali played in Billy Mitchell's house band at this west-side bebop club.