Saxophonist/composer Michael Jackson’s The Gal From Ochi, the recording shared with Corey Wilkes, Makaya McCraven, Marvin Tate, Aaron Koppel, Andrew Zallar, Xavier Breaker, John Janowiak, Andrew Zelm and more… Jackson is also an award-winning photographer, visual artist and jazz journalist
“Michael Jackson is a poly-talent whose music is as witty, upbeat, well-constructed and original as his writing, photography and printmaking. He knows that jazz is about rhythm, melody and high spirits — all abundant in Gal from Ochi, fun to listen to as it surely was for this starry team to play.” – Howard Mandel, Jazz Journalists Association
Award-winning photographer, artist and writer Michael Jackson has always been active as a saxophonist, and the lull in his diverse activities caused by the pandemic afforded time to focus on adding final touches to an album he’d had in the works for years. The Gal From Ochi features eleven powerful originals running the stylistic gamut from out-funk to Chicago blues, bossa, calypso, pop, spoken word, reggae and balladry, all infused with essential doses of jazz and improvisation. The album will be released on January 23, 2026 via the Jackojazz Bandcamp site.
Eighteen musicians from Chicago’s vibrant music scene populate the album, which comprises two sextets documented at Chicago’s storied CRC studio on separate dates, plus guests Jackson recorded at his home. “Head, Hearts and Tails” is a catch-all for the assembled and references characteristic stages during the distillation of whisky (Jackson, Makaya McCraven, Jake Vinsel and Rick Gehrenbeck first played together at whisky tasting events).
The collection is a distillation of Jackson’s eclectic enthusiasms across genres, with passing paeans to Jamaica, Brazil and his native North Yorkshire, UK.
After a horn-led warm-up, the eponymous opener pits Jackson’s tenor sax against patois from Lady B, who celebrates the cuisine and linguistic colour of her Jamaican homeland. The message is about ‘appreciating the day’ – easy to do in the sunshine of the Caribbean – and not ‘acting your age, or you’ll miss out;’ another line puns ‘Afro-dizzy/Act’ with ‘aphrodisiac.’ Lady B shouts out to the leader, Liquid Soul trombonist Johnny Showtime and drummer McCraven.
The latter’s up-beats, alongside percussionist JoVia Armstrong, are given another island turn on a calypso inspired by jazzman Sonny Rollins, dubbed “Sonny the Squirrel” after Rollins’ darting, unpredictable lines.
Other Latin influences include a bossa with contrapuntal horn lines dedicated to Jackson’s first voyage to Brazil which features cuica from Rio de Janeiro’s Geraldo de Oliveira behind guitarist Aaron Koppel’s solo. Koppel’s energised playing is featured on a stomping Chicago blues dedicated to Junior Wells and the freight train funk of “Blue Stew”. Of the latter Jackson comments “Marvin Tate’s freestyle spoken word over the groove, really takes the cut – one of my favorites – to the next level. I plied him with whisky and asked him to cackle maniacally like a witchdoctor presiding over a bubbling brew of who-knows-what. Marvin, unsurprisingly, added other dimensions with his oratory!”
On a more mellow tip “Pop Tart” – which was featured in the independent movie “Bad Johnson” – is a showcase for Jackson’s attempt at smooth jazz. An understated piano solo from Andrew Zallar is an unforced highlight; Zallar plays vibraphone and bass elsewhere on the album. “Wolfgang” in marked contrast, is free-for-all funk. “I tried to sound like I barely knew the saxophone, no riffs or licks, just texture, feeling and nasty,” claims Jackson. Outstanding on the track is ferocious drum-work from Xavier Breaker. Breaker also distinguishes himself on the slamming closer “Scoot Ya Butt” which is ignited with burning trumpet volleys from Corey Wilkes.
Jackson’s teenage daughter Alfie added purified vocals to “Stepping Stones,” an ethereal lament about an absent, disloyal lover, delivered with a panache beyond her years. The ballad includes lovely acoustic bass from Jason Roebke, harp from Kara Bershad and a sighing trombone solo from Andrew Zelm. The Gal From Ochi is beautifully recorded, mixed and mastered by the legendary Freddie Breitberg, who worked at Chess Records and with Curtis Mayfield at Curtom in Chicago for years.
About Michael Jackson
Though better known for his photography and writing, Michael Jackson and the saxophone have been close since his days as lead altoist in a youth big band in Yorkshire, England. That band took him to London’s Royal Festival Hall (the UK’s Carnegie) as a teenager and weekly gigs in pubs and clubs around Leeds and Bradford with semi-pro blues and soul bands followed, including a “Battle of the Bands” triumph with Burt Reynolds and the Boardwalkers.
During undergraduate studies in visual art in Brighton on the south coast he would frequently moonlight to Europe playing big festivals with wildly popular country/ska troupe The Forest Hillbillies. In a jazz/improvised vein he co-lead Hastings based sextet The Hamptons, while freelancing with Latin and R’n’B groups, including vocal heartthrob James Hunter’s well-known Howlin’ Wilf and the Vee-Jays. Jackson also fronted his own wedding and function band in the UK with included pianist Mark Edwards, known for his work with the Style Council, and singer Davina Wright.
After a move from London to Chicago in 1994 for graduate studies in fine art printmaking and film at SAIC, Jackson formed jazzfunk group Barnacle Soufflé with a couple of philosophy professors, thereafter joining busy acid jazz troupe Peking Turtle. After cutting several albums with the latter aggregations, appearing on the Jenny Jones Show, at the Taste of Chicago, and gigging everywhere from the Velvet Lounge to the Double Door, he began a three and a half year residency at Morseland in Chicago with his own sextet Bangers and Mash that became a vehicle for some of the originalson The Gal From Ochi.
During another three-year residency leading the house band at the Chicago Magic Lounge in Andersonville, Jackson also inaugurated sessions for quartet and nonet at The Safari Lounge in Rogers Park. Heart, Head and Tails is a catch-all for two sextets he brought together for the Gal from Ochi sessions at Chicago’s sadly shuttered CRC studios where he recorded with revered Curtis Mayfield and Chess engineer Freddie Breitberg. These tracks were finally brought to heel during pandemic downtime when, in a break from his hectic schedule, Jackson augmented some of the cuts with guest artists recorded either remotely or at his home. These included trumpet star Corey Wilkes, shamanic spoken word artist Marvin Tate and his talented daughter Alfie, who was 15 at the time of adding vocals to “Stepping Stones.”
Jackson’s eclectic influences stem from a diverse musical upbringing. He’s the product of a classical piano teacher mother, clarinetist father, jazz musician stepfather (who’d worked with everyone from Fela Kuti to Cage and Stockhausen, James Moody and Art Farmer). Additionally, his grandmother was a professional cellist and his eccentric banjo playinguncle (in who’s band he played in pubs in Yorkshire as a kid) was a huge fan of Coltrane, Roland Kirk and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He’s played and enjoyed all manner of music, from freely improvised to straightahead and travelled widely during his music journalism career, all of which has contributed to the potpourri of styles – including free-funk, Chicago Blues, calypso, reggae and Brazilian influence – that is celebrated on The Gal from Ochi.
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