(July 19th 1902 - May 24th 1970)

Born Clifton Luther Jackson in Culpeper, Virginia in 1902 by the time he was twenty he had become a highly accomplished pianist and moved to New York City in 1923. There Cliff played with Lionel Howard's "Musical Aces" in 1924 prior to establishing his own "Krazy Kats" jazz band with whom he would record in 1930. In the early 1930's after the group disbanded Cliff went on to work primarily as a solo performer in New York clubs in addition to providing piano accompaniment for singers including Lena Wilson, Sara Martin, Martha Copeland, Clara Smith and Viola McCoy. Cliff Jackson recorded with Sidney Bechet in the early 1940's and recorded as a soloist or leader later on in the decade. He toured with Eddie Condon in 1946, was the house pianist at Cafe Society from 1943 to 1951, and in coming years would play with Garvin Bushell and J.C. Higginbotham.