Michael Gregory Jackson

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin, flute, timpani, marimba, percussion, harmonica etc.), born August 28, 1953 in New Haven, CT. After the early 80's he used Michael Gregory as his artist name in order to avoid being mistaken for the singer Michael Jackson. He played free jazz in the mid-1970s with Wadada Leo Smith, David Murray and others. During this period he formed the trio Clarity with Anthony Davis (2) and Pheeroan Aklaff. "Gregory's style gradually became more commercialized, combining free-jazz techniques with pop rhythms and song forms. Eventually he abandoned jazz altogether to persue a career in pop music ..." (The New Grove dictionary of jazz, 1988)