Michael Gregory Jackson

Michael Gregory Jackson (born August 28, 1953 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American jazz, R&B, avant-garde, rock, blues, and free jazz guitarist and composer. Early in his career, he used his given name, Michael Gregory Jackson. In 1983, when he signed with Island Records, Michael dropped Jackson and recorded under Michael Gregory to prevent mix-ups with the name of pop singer Michael Jackson. In 2013, he returned to using his full name. During the 1970s and '80s, he worked with avant-garde jazz musicians Oliver Lake, Pheeroan akLaff, and Baikida Carroll. He worked with playwright Ntozake Shange, poet Jessica Hagedorn, and poet Thulani Davis at the Public Theater, New York City. Following this he began working more in rock, jazz fusion, and R&B. He worked with Walter Becker of Steely Dan. In 1983 Nile Rodgers produced his album Situation-X for Island Records. In 2013 he formed Michael Gregory Jackson's Clarity Quartet and Michael Gregory Jackson's Clarity TRiO. His groups have included Anthony Davis, Bob Moses, David Murray, Jerome Harris, Julius Hemphill, Mark Helias, Mark Trayle, Marty Ehrlich, Wadada Leo Smith, and Will Calhoun.