Memphis musician WAYNE JACKSON died on Tuesday 21st June aged 74. The legendary trumpeter’s wife, Amy, said Wayne died of congestive heart failure in hospital in Memphis. He had been earlier hospitalized but was released June 7th; it seems he then deteriorated and was readmitted on Monday night.
Wayne Jackson was born in Memphis on 1941 but was raised across the Mississippi River in West Memphis, Arkansas. He took up the trumpet aged 11 and he eventually scored himself a place with the Stax studio band, backing most of the label roster’s top names including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Rufus and Carla Thomas and many more. The band also recorded as the Mar-keys.
In 1969 with fellow Mar-key, sax player Andrew Love, Jackson created The Memphis Horns – one of the most formidable horn sections in soul’s history. The Memphis Horns played on 52 No. 1 records and 83 gold and platinum records, including Otis Redding’s ‘(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay and Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together”. More recently they featured on the James Bond soundtrack ‘Quantum of Solace’. They also featured on recordings by people like Elvis Presley, Robert Cray, Steve Winwood, Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Neil Diamond and U2. Jackson received his first gold record in 1961 and his last in 2005.
In 2008, Jackson and Love were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. In 2012 (just before Love’s death) they were awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award … only the second instrumental backup group in history to receive the honour at the time. It’s reported that in his acceptance speech, Wayne Jackson said: “Life’s been a dance of love between me and that trumpet.”
