At 3 a.m. his estranged wife ran into the street screaming for help. She claimed that she answered the door to an intruder made who then threw Jackson to the floor, demanding money. Forced to lie face down, the intruder shot him in the back five times.
Jackson had filed for divorce from Barbara and had plans to move to Atlanta to work with Stax singer and songwriter William Bell. The police questioned her as in July 1975 she had shot Alan in the chest.
She told police that burglars had tied her up and shot her husband when he had returned home.
Police found nothing out of the ordinary. The person thought to have killed Jackson was the boyfriend of Denise LaSalle, Barbara Jackson’s friend.
They tracked him through a Florida bank robbery who traveled to Memphis, then Seattle, and met his death on July 15, 1976, in an unrelated gun battle with law enforcement.
Stax Records booked Jackson for a recording session with Billy Lee Riley with Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, and Lewie Steinberg. Riley was a no-show, so the foursome began jamming together.
Producer Jim Stewart recorded the impromptu session which resulted in the iconic single ‘Green Onions’ which climbed to No. 1 on the R&B charts. The track ‘Behave Yourself’, recorded that day, brought in a new era of soul music.
The addition of Booker T. and the MG’s to the roster gave Stax Records a well-defined identity, later known as the “Memphis sound.” Jackson was the de facto leader within the group and the other members often looked to him for leadership. Jackson’s advice was humble and straightforward: to keep things simple.
“With Al, you just had to kind of wait on him and wait till he’d come down on the beat to catch him. He’d just keep it right where he thought it should be, and he’d make you look like a fool. But he was right ninety percent of the time.”
Duck Dunn, the bassist who replaced Lewie Steinberg in the MG’s in 1964.
Nicknamed The Human Timekeeper, Jackson provided the beat for the likes of Al Green, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, and Albert King.
The music industry recognizes Jackson as one of the most important drummers in the history of recorded music, who played a vital role in defining the “Memphis Sound”. His drumming has served as a model of excellence for generations of drummers.
Besides providing the backbeat to some of the most iconic songs in R&B, Al Jackson, Jr. was also an accomplished songwriter. He wrote or co-wrote such massive hits as Albert King’s “The Hunter,” Ann Peebles’ “I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home,” and Al Green’s aforementioned greatest hits.
https://youtu.be/zFNx0u12L5A
