Jackie Ivory

Pianist and organ player Jackie Ivory was born on February 27, 1937, in Blytheville, AR. As a young boy, Ivory moved with his family to South Bend, IN, where he started to teach himself piano. Private lessons fleshed out his own forays into the instrument, and by high school Ivory was playing and singing in pickup vocal groups throughout South Bend. After a stint in the Army, the pianist collaborated with jazz guitarist Don Davis before starting a trio featuring saxophone, drums, and his own Hammond B-3 organ. In 1965, the 24-year-old Ivory issued his first LP, Soul Discovery, for the Atco label. Extensive touring as a sideman followed, with Ivory supporting tenor sax greats like Junior Walker and Willis "Gator" Jackson. Ivory moved to Oakland, CA, in 1974, and the city became his base of operations for the rest of his career. In 1983, he formed the Jackie Ivory Quartet, and performed regularly on the B-3 with the combo throughout the '80s, '90s, and '00s. Jackie Ivory Live at Jack's Bar (Orchard) was released in 2001; two years later, Honeycomb dropped Laying in the Cut, a loose, effortlessly funky set from Ivory and his quartet, which featured brother and drummer Henry Lawrence Avery, vocalist Harriet E. Davis, tenor saxophonist Nancy Wright, and guitarist Yoshinobu "Takezo" Takeda.