Calvin Jackson (pianist)

John Calvin Jackson (May 26, 1919 – December 9, 1985) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. Background He was born in Philadelphia in 1919 to Harry and Margaret Jackson. His mother was a concert singer in Philadelphia. Jackson played piano from childhood, having lessons with private teacher. He studied at Juilliard and New York University. Career At the beginning of his career Jackson worked with Frankie Fairfax. From 1943–47 he worked in Hollywood as an assistant director of music for MGM on productions including Meet Me in St. Louis and Anchors Aweigh. In 1947 he recorded with Phil Moore and also as a solo pianist for Discovery Records. He played Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 on piano for the 1947 Tom and Jerry cartoon The Cat Concerto. In Summer 1948, he played with a singer Mildred Bailey and a dancer Avon Long at Café Society in New York City. In 1950, he moved to Toronto, where he often played on television and radio. Over the course of the 1950s and early 1960s he released several LPs for labels such as Columbia Records. In 1957 he returned to Los Angeles, where he resumed work as a composer and orchestrator for television and hit musicals like Where the