by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
Over the years, Jacksonville has been the home and launching pad for many major musical artists. Most people think of Jax as the hometown of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and we spent last week mourning the anniversary of the death of our hometown heroes of Southern Rock. There have been many other musical stars who called Jax home as well. Going back to the mid-50s, a Dupont Jr-Sr. High School teacher, Mae Boren Axton penned Elvis’ career-launching hit, Heartbreak Hotel. Mae’s son Hoyt Axton went on to a prominent musical and film career. Mae’s connection to Elvis happened because she was Hank Snow’s publicist. He was managed by Colonel Tom Parker, who also managed and guided Elvis’ skyrocketing career.
Ray Charles and Teddy Washington Jr. grew up together in downtown Jacksonville on Ashley Street. Ray later moved to Seattle, Washington because it was the longest distance from Jax. Seattle is where Ray got noticed and launched his career. When Ray died, I interviewed Teddy who told me many funny stories about this musical legend.
In the beginning of Teddy and Ray’s friendship, Teddy was only 15 and Ray was 14, and they were still in school but played on weekends with the Tiny York’s band. Teddy knew Ray as RC and never knew what it stood for until Ray became a star. RC played piano and Teddy played trumpet. Charles Brown was York’s singer and Ray’s mentor. In the late 30s, Ashley Street was like Harlem. RC ran with another blind kid called Blind Jimmy. The two would pretend not to be blind and walk up the street bumping into things, which they thought was hilarious.
RC was a wild kid at 14. He drank booze, and he and Blind Jimmy would get in all kinds of trouble. Indeed, RC was a musical prodigy. He read Braille, but once he went over a score, he could play it from memory. Teddy also said that RC had the best ear of anyone he ever met. He could hear something once and immediately play it. Ray continually drank gin mixed with coffee in a cup and chain smoked Kool cigarettes as well as reefer. Many of Ray’s girlfriends tried to get him to stop drinking and drugging, but Ray didn’t listen and broke up with them when they tried to reform him.
Teddy Washington went on to become James Brown’s musical director and trumpet player for eight years in the 70s. He then launched a successful solo career fronting his own big band. Teddy still lives in Jacksonville and performs with his band.
The late 60s, the Comic Book Club scene in downtown Jacksonville was the fertile breeding ground for the Southern rock sound. Skynyrd launched its career from there as well as The Allman Brothers and Blackfoot. In those days, rock’n’roll was considered disreputable by the average Jaxites, who looked down on this scene. Even when the members of Skynyrd became filthy rich, they were not welcome by Jacksonville’s uptight Bible-belters, who dismissed the Southern rock scene as hippie tomfoolery.
The joke was on the niggling naysayers – Skynyrd went on the become rock icons whose music still shows up in films, on TV, and is an integral part of the en masse pop culture. After Skynyrd’s plane crash in 1977, the one-hit-one-tour wonder Rossington-Collins came together with the remnants of Skynyrd and sticksmeister Derek Hess on drums. In 1979, Molly Hatchet released its mega-hit Flirting with Disaster which took the world by storm. This Southern roots group is still touring mostly through Europe, Japan and Scandinavia helmed by Bobby Ingram as the sole owner of the band. At that time, 38 Special, fronted by the late Ronnie Van Zant’s (Skynyrd’s singer) brother Donnie, started to make waves on the rock charts, evolving into a hitmaking machine.
As all this was happening, local guitar phenom Derek Trucks was out touring when he was 9-years old, supervised by his dad, Chris Trucks, Butch Trucks’ brother. (Butch plays drums for the Allman Brothers.) Derek grew up on the road, becoming a slide guitar avatar. In his early twenties, Derek married Susan Tedeschi who achieved stardom as a blues rock artist. Now, Derek and Susan have combined forces, touring together with one big band. Derek also tours with Eric Clapton and the Allman Brothers.
The struggling local jazz scene was greatly enhanced as UNF took measures to become a serious music school. Respected euphonium master, composer, arranger and educator from North Texas State Rich Matteson took over the UNF Jazz Studies Department in the early 90s. Under Matteson’s influence, UNF steadily built up its music school to national standards. Now headed by saxophone titan Bunky Green, UNF is considered a major music school, attracting the most talented players in the country. Many UNF graduates went on to achieve national recognition such as trumpeter Marcus Printup, piano sensation Marcus Roberts, and many others. Jax native Von Barlow is an internationally renowned jazz drummer who has played with many of the legends of jazz. Celebrated trumpet player and composer Longineu Parsons grew up here and is a respected educator, teaching at Florida State. Longineu Parsons Jr. plays drums for Yellowcard.
Speaking of the Platinum-selling Jacksonville band Yellowcard, there are a number of modern rock bands that have emerged from Jacksonville’s alt-rock scene to achieve national status. In recent years Limp Bizkit became the official founder of rap-metal, The Fenwicks fused ska with just about everything, punk pioneer Stevie Ray Stiletto carried the punk rock torch and now Yellowcard and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus have taken that momentum even further.
Jax has a reputation as a staging area for raw talent in modern rock. Many of Jacksonville’s bands are struggling in obscurity and a few of them may make it to the big time scene. Ah, but staying on top is the tricky part. Generally, modern rock bands have a short shelf life unless they can write songs that capture the imagination of their fans who will keep them on top by supporting their live shows and buying their product.
From contributions to groups such as The Commodores to The Royal Trux, Jacksonville has seeped deeply into music history. More than many towns ever will. Clearly there are many local musicians currently on the brink of stardom. If I left anyone out, it was not intentional. It just proves my point–Jax is a hot musical town.
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