RIP Antony Jackson

[snorkie635]

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

This is my favourite photo of him!

 

He's just been told the price of that Fodera! 🤭

[Sté]

One of my favorite:

 

[Owen]

I do not have anything to add about his artistry, but I liked the fact that he apparently specced basses with no strap buttons. Sitting down is the best. 

[lowdown]

 

[Terry M.]

2 hours ago, Owen said:

I do not have anything to add about his artistry, but I liked the fact that he apparently specced basses with no strap buttons. Sitting down is the best. 

Ironically I've recently started bringing my own straps to demo basses in stores.

[Bagman]

4 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Ironically I've recently started bringing my own straps to demo basses in stores.

I’ve been bringing my own chair 

[Bagman]

AJ was quite involved in the early days of Bass Player USA 

 

He had some forceful opinions 

 

I was able to read and contemplate his thoughts and apply or try them in various musical situations 

 

He was a Principled Ideas man 

[Terry M.]

12 hours ago, Bagman said:

I’ve been bringing my own chair 

No I've really been bringing in my own strap. My wide Levys one. I've demoed too many basses in the past without them and I always play with one when sitting.

Edited Tuesday at 07:08 by Terry M.

[risingson]

I was immensely lucky to have met him in New York back in 2013. I was only in my early 20s and myself and my girlfriend at the time went to Blue Note to watch Hiromi, really just to catch a glimpse of my bass playing hero.
 

Afterwards I managed to sneak upstairs by the dressing room and got talking to Simon Phillips, who I will attest to this day as one of the nicest musicians I have ever met. After chatting for 10 mins or so, I asked whether AJ was still around. SP mentioned that he was famously shy but that he’d see what he could do. 
 

SP proceeded to put his head round the dressing room and explain that he had a really good friend from the UK over that he’d love to introduce. After ushering me in (what a cool bloke for doing that, will never forget it), I got introduced to AJ, who was sitting in this old battered armchair like some demigod. I’d had several cocktails and quite a few beers by this point, but I was dumbstruck and totally lost for words. 
 

He was immensely shy, but so generous with his time. I was a young lad so he seemed genuinely enthused by me knowing virtually everything he’d played on in the late 70s and early 80s. 
 

I was so very sad to learn of my favourite bass player’s passing today but I’m quite certain his legacy will live on for many years to come. He was to my mind the greatest bass player alive, unmatched and unrivalled - subjective I know but something I really do, did believe. 
 

 

Edited Monday at 19:08 by risingson

[lowdown]

Probably most have seen this interview with AJ, but if not, it's worth 30 minutes of your time.

He joins in with Simon Phillips for the second part of the interview and he was certainly a very fascinating character:

 

 

[Inga]

genuinely very upset to hear the news, he was one of my biggest inspirations and bass idols and will be sorely missed in the music world, RIP

[Russ]

We’re never going to see his like again. He was the ultimate musical and intellectual product of an era that has now passed, and he was pretty much at the pinnacle of the first-call session bassist mountain. RIP. 

 

I had the good fortune to try out an AJ Presentation bass when I visited Fodera about 10 years back. I’ve never played a bass that sounded so much like a piano in the low register - stunning thing. One pickup, no controls, straight to an XLR out. Unbelievably clear and deep. Huge and heavy, though - no wonder he played it sitting down! 

[Bagman]

"Oh, Marion" Paul Simon

 

Gadd and Jackson greatness

[ian61]

My goodness only just seen this. It's like he's always been around. Legend.

[TKenrick]

As many have said, he was - for me, at least - the greatest of the greats.

 

I saw him with Hiromi at Ronnie Scotts in 2015ish and was so taken with his focus and ferocity that I immediately bought a ticket for the next night's show so I could do the same thing all over again. 

 

Hard to pin down my favourite AJ contributions as his output was so vast and so diverse, but the Michel Camilo (One More Once, Rendezvous) and Chaka Khan (Naughty, What Cha Gonna Do For Me) albums are the ones I keep coming back to.

 

Certainly a man of principles who stuck to his guns in spite of musical trends. Just dug this out and it's possibly even more relevant now than it was in 1992: 

 

 

[visog]

Sad news. Couple of my favourites not seen pop up in the threads yet:

• David Sanborn, 'Tin Tin' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awy5SxjBQr0&list=RDAwy5SxjBQr0&start_radio=1
• Steve Kahn, 'Modern Times' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXfdOJg3d-0&list=RDPXfdOJg3d-0&start_radio=1
• Al Di Meola, 'Song to the Pharoah Kings' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiOeA3FpGvA&list=RDBiOeA3FpGvA&start_radio=1

Monster player

[Hellzero]

On 20/10/2025 at 22:19, lowdown said:

Probably most have seen this interview with AJ, but if not, it's worth 30 minutes of your time.

He joins in with Simon Phillips for the second part of the interview and he was certainly a very fascinating character:

 

 

By the way, did Ray Russell understand the joke about the English accents and especially the one on/in EastEnders, because his personal one is just as awful?!? 🤦🏻

[lowdown]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

By the way, did Ray Russell understand the joke about the English accents and especially the one on/in EastEnders, because his personal one is just as awful?!? 🤦🏻

 

I think it passed him by. "A separate programme called, Following Eastenders".

 

As it happens, Ray Russell is a decent chap and quite humorous in his own right when he's not interviewing.

He's an old school UK session Guitarist with a terrific body of TV and film credits behind him, along with all those major artist pop and rock sessions he played on

Edited Wednesday at 17:46 by lowdown

[bubinga5]

His playing on this is just utterly fantastic.   

 

[visog]

So some great suggestions for remembering AJ's brilliance. I liked the Michel Camilo and Hiromi stuff playing with piano and, in the former case, a Latin situation.

 

In contrast, and to show AJ's range and adaptability, here is a high quality video of AJ in a guitar trio setting with the ultra textural and improvisational Wayne Krantz.

 

 

[Ruarl]

1 hour ago, visog said:

So some great suggestions for remembering AJ's brilliance. I liked the Michel Camilo and Hiromi stuff playing with piano and, in the former case, a Latin situation.

 

In contrast, and to show AJ's range and adaptability, here is a high quality video of AJ in a guitar trio setting with the ultra textural and improvisational Wayne Krantz.

 

 

Oh, goodness me. Where has this been all my life? This was the AJ I always sought but never found. Thanks for sharing.

[obi 2 kenobi]

this is amazing 

[Misdee]

The world is a poorer place without Anthony Jackson in it. I first came across him on the credits for Paul Simon's Greatest Hits album in the very early '80's. He played bass on Slip Sliding Away, and I was blown away by how he alternated between low notes and high-register passages played round the vocals. It's still one of my favourites. 

 

I know AJ is feted for his work on the 6 string contrabass, I love that, but I really enjoy his earlier work played mainly on Fender basses. Everybody knows For The Love Of Money, but he did some equally dazzling and inventive playing with a whole host of artists on the four string. And he was funky as anybody else you could name from back in those days, of course in his own inimitable way: