Joe Jackson

In the midst of the late-1970s surge of rebellious young musicians, Joe Jackson rapidly distinguished himself among rock's new-wave arrivals as one of its most consistently surprising figures. He opened with tense, punk-tinged pop and rock, pairing the melodic yet pointed breakthrough single "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" with the abrasive energy of "I'm the Man," which stood alongside the Clash in volume and attitude, before expanding into reggae and jump blues and eventually reaching the refined songwriting approach of Night & Day. Conceived as a tribute to Cole Porter, the album presented a polished, synth-flecked surface whose singles "Steppin' Out" and "Breaking Us in Two" reached radio listeners in 1982 and supplied the commercial latitude for Jackson to follow his creative instincts across later decades. Though he never fully abandoned pop and rock, releasing an overt continuation of Night & Day in 2000 and laying down 2019's Fool with a road-honed band while momentum remained high, he repeatedly turned toward less mainstream endeavors, among them multiple classical collections, the 2012 album saluting Duke Ellington, and What a Racket!, a set of newly composed music-hall material presented under the adopted identity of "Max Champion."

David Ian Jackson entered the world on August 11, 1954, in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. His parents first met during his father's naval service when his mother was employed at the family pub in Portsmouth on England's southern coast. They began married life in his father's native Swadlincote on the Staffordshire-Derbyshire boundary, yet relocated to his mother's hometown once Jackson reached the age of one, so that he grew up between Portsmouth and the neighboring town of Gosport. His father, Ronald Jackson, took up work as a plasterer. Raised amid working-class hardship, Jackson contended with asthma diagnosed at three, whose episodes persisted into his twenties. Barred from athletic pursuits, he gravitated toward reading and, eventually, music. Violin instruction began at eleven, followed by timpani and oboe study at school. In his early teens his parents supplied a used piano, lessons commenced, and he soon resolved to become a composer. He performed percussion in a municipal student orchestra, yet his immediate circle favored popular styles over classical repertoire. Drawn to jazz, he assembled a trio and, at sixteen, secured his first paid engagement playing piano in a pub.

By the early 1970s Jackson had developed an affinity for progressive rock, particularly British ensembles such as Soft Machine. In 1972 he passed an advanced "S" level music examination that awarded a grant for further study; acceptance at London's Royal Academy of Music followed. Opting not to relocate, he applied the funds to equipment and commuted several days weekly while remaining at home and performing locally in pop settings. Classical composition gave way to pop songwriting, and he joined the established Misty Set, delivering his initial lead vocal onstage. Subsequent membership in Edward Bear (distinct from the Canadian group sharing the name) brought a new nickname: bandmates likened his appearance to the puppet character on the television series Joe 90 and began calling him "Joe," a moniker that endured. After six months the two founding members of Edward Bear withdrew from music, granting Jackson permission to retain the name and recruit friends Mark Andrews (later of Mark Andrews & the Gents) on lead guitar and vocals together with bassist Graham Maby.

Jackson maintained his enrollment at the Royal Academy, concentrating on composition, orchestration, and piano while majoring in percussion, and he occasionally performed with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Three years of study culminated in graduation in 1975. By then Edward Bear had altered its name to Edwin Bear to avoid conflict with the Canadian act, later adopting Arms & Legs. The group drew managerial interest and secured a contract with MAM Records. In April 1976 the label issued the first Arms & Legs single, pairing Andrews' "Janie" with Jackson's "She'll Surprise You." Further singles failed to register, prompting Jackson's departure in October 1976 so he could serve as pianist and musical director at Portsmouth's Playboy Club, intent on financing an independent solo album. August 1977 marked his debut performances fronting the Joe Jackson Band, with Andrews temporarily returning before Gary Sanford assumed guitar duties alongside Maby and drummer Dave Houghton. Jackson simultaneously resigned from the Playboy Club to become pianist and musical director for the cabaret troupe Koffee 'n' Kream, then launching a nationwide tour after their success on the television talent program Opportunity Knocks.

Touring duties with Koffee 'n' Kream extended from autumn 1977 through spring 1978, generating sufficient earnings for Jackson to relocate to London and complete album recordings in a Portsmouth studio. Demo tapes reached American producer David Kershenbaum, who was scouting for A&M Records; the label signed Jackson in August 1978, after which the album was immediately re-recorded. Completion arrived swiftly, and at month's end the Joe Jackson Band began an extensive domestic tour. Despite classical training and prior experience across varied pop contexts, Jackson had developed a genuine appreciation for the punk and new-wave movement's vitality, directness, and lyrical candor, elements he integrated without difficulty. Although the new-wave designation served partly as a pragmatic label, the aesthetic suited his approach.

October 1978 brought the first Joe Jackson single, "Is She Really Going Out with Him?," a rhythmic ballad in which the narrator questions why attractive women favor "gorillas" and frets over his own shortcomings. Initial chart absence did not deter continued U.K. touring and mounting press coverage. Look Sharp! arrived in January 1979, entering the British charts in March and ultimately reaching the lower reaches of the Top 40. The album appeared in the United States the same month, climbing into the Top 20 once the single received an American release in May and achieved Top 40 status; by September the LP earned gold certification domestically. A July reissue of the single in Britain yielded an August chart entry inside the Top 20. Jackson received a 1979 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male.

Near-constant touring still permitted time to prepare a swift successor, and I'm the Man appeared in October 1979. Its proximity to Look Sharp! limited impact in the United States, where the earlier album continued selling; the new release reached the Top 40 yet proved comparatively modest, with "It's Different for Girls" failing to enter the Hot 100. British reception proved stronger: I'm the Man attained the Top 20 and the single climbed to the Top Five. Reggae rhythms surfaced periodically, as on "Fools in Love" from Look Sharp! and "Geraldine and John" from I'm the Man. May saw a U.K. EP featuring a version of Jimmy Cliff's reggae classic "The Harder They Come," credited to the Joe Jackson Band in recognition of the group's sonic contribution.

October 1980's Beat Crazy, likewise issued under the Joe Jackson Band banner, delved further into reggae and ska territory. Commercial results were subdued, with the album peaking in the forties on both sides of the Atlantic and singles failing to chart. A month-long U.K. tour from October into November, followed by European dates through December, left the United States unvisited. Jackson later attributed the band's dissolution after the European leg to Houghton's reluctance to continue touring; Sanford pursued session work while Maby remained.

Following more than two years of uninterrupted road work, Jackson, weakened by exhaustion, returned to his family home and immersed himself in the jump-blues repertoire of 1940s figure Louis Jordan. He assembled a new ensemble modeled on Jordan's Tympany 5, comprising saxophonists Pete Thomas (alto), Raul Oliveria (trumpet), and David Bitelli (tenor and clarinet), pianist Nick Weldon, drummer Larry Tolfree, Maby, and Jackson on vibes and vocals. The group interpreted swing and jump-blues standards; the resulting 1981 album Jumpin' Jive reached Britain's Top 20 yet only the American Top 50, foreshadowing the neo-swing revival of the late 1990s.

The ensuing year brought further personal shifts. Jackson's marriage ended, and he settled in New York City, investigating salsa and the classic songcraft of Gershwin and Cole Porter. The outcome, June 1982's Night and Day, placed his keyboard work at the forefront for the first time. Trading new-wave rock for an infectious pop-jazz-salsa-dance amalgam, the album yielded the multi-format hit "Steppin' Out," which progressed from album-oriented rock to pop and adult-contemporary airplay, secured Top Ten placements across formats, and earned Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. Bolstered by this momentum, Night and Day entered the Top Ten, attained gold status, and produced the additional Top 20 single "Breaking Us in Two."

The Night and Day tour concluded in May 1983. Jackson had been invited to contribute to Mike's Murder, James Bridges' film starring Debra Winger. He supplied several songs and instrumentals, assembled on a soundtrack album issued in September. A dispute between director and studio delayed the film's March 1984 premiere, at which point John Barry's score had supplanted most of Jackson's material. Box-office disappointment notwithstanding, the soundtrack album charted inside the Top 100 and spawned the single "Memphis"; "Breakdown" received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

March 1984 brought Body & Soul, stylistically continuous with Night and Day yet leaning further toward R&B. Another commercial success, it reached the Top 20 and yielded the Top 20 single "You Can't Get What You Want ('Til You Know What You Want)." After the four-month world tour ended in July 1984, Jackson withdrew, later describing the trek as his most arduous, undertaken too soon after its predecessor and leaving him vowing never to tour again. He resurfaced after eighteen months for live recordings at New York's Roundabout Theatre in January 1986. Audiences attended under instructions to withhold applause so performances could be captured directly to two-track tape. The resulting March 1986 album Big World fit the emerging compact-disc format with its one-hour duration, though it required two LPs with the fourth side left empty. An eight-month tour ensued; the album remained on the charts for six months yet peaked only in the Top 40.

During winter 1985 Jackson received a commission for a twenty-minute score to the Japanese film Shijin No Ie (House of the Poet), recorded with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. He reworked the piece into "Symphony in One Movement," added further instrumentals, and released the 1987 album Will Power, his first to foreground classical leanings. Increasing incorporation of classical elements alongside "serious" compositions placed him between critical constituencies, with rock reviewers often preferring pop-oriented work and classical critics largely overlooking him.

While remaining off the road, Jackson issued two 1988 albums. May's double-disc Live 1980/86 charted inside the Top 100. August's Tucker: The Man and His Dream soundtrack, rendered in swing style for Francis Ford Coppola's film, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV. April 1989's Blaze of Glory achieved modest sales, peaking only in the Top 100 despite airplay for "Nineteen Forever." Jackson regarded the album as among his strongest yet felt disappointed by both commercial response and label support. He departed A&M, which promptly issued the 1990 compilation Steppin' Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson, a British Top Ten hit.

Jackson composed his third film score for 1991's Queens Logic; no soundtrack album appeared. Signing with Virgin Records, he released Laughter & Lust in April 1991. The album voiced industry frustrations through the buoyant, 1960s-styled "Hit Single," while the socially aware "Obvious Song" and a percussion-driven reading of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" garnered radio attention. A world tour ran from May to September. Three years of recording silence followed. In the interim he scored the interactive film I'm Your Man (1992) and the feature Three of Hearts (1993), neither yielding soundtrack releases. October 1994 saw Night Music, a restrained effort blending pop and classical approaches that included instrumentals and guest vocals from Máire Brennan of Clannad. Jackson subsequently left Virgin for Sony Classical, a label more receptive to his ambitions. September 1997 brought Heaven & Hell, a song cycle exploring the seven deadly sins, credited to Joe Jackson & Friends and featuring folk-pop vocalists Jane Siberry and Suzanne Vega alongside opera singer Dawn Upshaw. The album reached number three on Billboard's Classical Crossover chart; a tour extended from November to April 1998.

Two late-1990s projects surfaced in October 1999. Sony Classical presented Symphony No. 1, performed not by orchestra but by a jazz-and-rock ensemble including guitarist Steve Vai and trumpeter Terence Blanchard; it captured the 2000 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Publishers Public Affairs simultaneously released Jackson's memoir A Cure for Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage, recounting his musical passion and life from birth through his late-1970s breakthrough. Updating the narrative, he observed, "So I'm still making music, no longer a pop star—if I ever really was—but just a composer, which is what I wanted to be in the first place."

After issuing primarily semi-classical works on his previous three recordings, Jackson was widely presumed to have forsaken pop and rock entirely. Instead the early twenty-first century produced renewed activity, much of it returning him to pop territory. June 2000's Sony Classical release Summer in the City: Live in New York documented an August 1999 concert featuring piano and vocals supported solely by Maby and drummer Gary Burke, mixing older material with interpretations of songs by the Lovin' Spoonful, Duke Ellington, and the Beatles. Four months later arrived Night and Day II, extending the aesthetic of his most successful album. European and North American touring from November to April 2001 yielded the concert recording Two Rainy Nights: Live in Seattle & Portland, issued in January 2002 on his Great Big Island imprint and later reissued by Koch in 2004.

Later in 2002 Jackson reconvened the original Joe Jackson Band—Graham Maby, Gary Sanford, and Dave Houghton—to record Volume 4, released by Restless/Rykodisc in March 2003. A world tour through September 2003 produced the March 2004 live album Afterlife. Concurrently, "Steppin' Out" appeared in a Lincoln Mercury television commercial, and Jackson scored the 2005 film The Greatest Game Ever Played. The 2008 studio album Rain preceded 2011's Live Music: Europe 2010, captured during the Joe Jackson Trio's European dates with Houghton and Maby.

2012 saw the Duke Ellington tribute The Duke. Although a longtime admirer of the pianist and bandleader, Jackson avoided conventional reverence, refracting the compositions through unexpected rhythms, arrangements, and collaborations, including a duet with Iggy Pop on "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)." Another expansive undertaking arrived in 2015 with Fast Forward, recorded across four cities with four distinct ensembles, each illuminating a different facet of his songwriting persona. Record Store Day 2017 yielded the single "Fools in Love" backed with "Music to Watch Girls By," unreleased 2010 live recordings featuring his trio. Mid-2018 found Joe Jackson, guitarist Teddy Kumpel, bassist Graham Maby, and drummer Doug Yowell touring the United States. Immediately after the final date in Boise, Idaho, the musicians entered Tonic Room Recording Studio to preserve their road sharpness, resulting in the January 2019 album Fool.

For the subsequent project Jackson reversed direction, recording What a Racket! with orchestral accompaniment. The ensemble proved fitting for songs composed in the guise of Max Champion, the persona Jackson devised to craft period music-hall material offering wry commentary on contemporary life.