Talk:Alvin Jackson (musician)

Ali or Alvin Jackson?

I have hidden the text and links I added, with reference, regarding the John Coltrane/Wilbur Harden recordings. The reference clearly states Alvin Jackson, but the album covers clearly state Ali Jackson (jazz bassist). Can anyone categorically confirm it either way? Cheers! --Technopat (talk) 22:40, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Part of the problem stems from the fact that both Jacksons (both from Detroit and both of the bassists) recorded/performed with Lateef, as did both Coltrane and Harden, around this time also...--Technopat (talk) 22:48, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Hi, I can't say categorically, it's very confusing, but the evidence seems to me to point to jazzdisco.org being wrong and that it's Ali Jackson (brother of Oliver) on the Coltrane/Harden recordings, based on these sleeve notes to Tanganyika Strut: "Ali Jackson paid his home town Detroit dues most recently in Yusef Lateef's combo, and is now 'making' the New York scene." [1] - which is language one would use of a newish on the scene 26/7 year old, not of a 36 year old I would think - but then again though it's likely they did, I can't find any definite reference to Ali actually having played with Lateef (he doesn't seem to have recorded with him, even though Lateef recorded his "Prayer to the East" and Oliver was playing with Lateef at this time), and of course Alvin Jackson definitely did play with Lateef in 1955, though again one would hardly call it "Lateef's combo". The Dial Africa LP credits Al Jackson here [2] but the sleeve notes are tantalisingly out of view. And the Jazz Way Out LP credits Ali Jackson on the back as well as the front [3] but again the sleeve notes are mostly unreadable.

For what it's worth I'd definitely say the Nashville 1952 session was Ali, just based on his brother being in it, which would point again to jazzdisco.org being the one (most) confused. Dickdock (talk) 06:11, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

Greetings Dickdock. Thanks for that. Yep, you sum up my gut-feeling perfectly. At the risk of going off-topic or this degenerating into forum, in my experience, jazzdisco is less often wrong than either discogs or allmusic (which is more often wrong than right...), and I've come across the occasional album cover or sleeve notes with minor mistakes, but we struggle on. Cheers! --Technopat (talk) 10:09, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

Absolutely, jazzdisco is a stunning resource, crafted by 3 guys who one feels own & listen to 90% of the records they document, and is rarely wrong but occasionally is I've noticed. My guess here is that this was an authorial mistake, the compiler noticing the similarity between the 2 Jacksons, thinking they're the same guy and then standardizing them into the one spelling. Perhaps also him being Japanese and a non-native English speaker contributed in that he mightn't have realized that "Ali" would be a very unusual diminutive for "Alvin".

Yeah allmusic is obviously amazingly comprehensive and has some great writers but the credit data is very hit and miss, punched in by drones I'd guess, and only haphazardly refactored - they actually credit both Ali and Alvin Jackson on the Jazz Way Out entry (as you probably noticed) which I guess suggests somebody tried to fix things, if only in a "to be sure, to be sure" kind of way. discogs alas is cute, but more or less hopeless, reliability wise, a failed wiki I'm afraid (unlike the semifailed one we're on!). Dickdock (talk) 19:37, 10 July 2013 (UTC)