THE PROG INTERVIEW DAVID JACKSON

Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s David Jackson. As Van der Graaf Generator’s on/off saxophonist, he played a key role in the band’s sound during their heyday on albums that include Pawn Hearts and H To He, Who Am The Only One. Here, he reminisces about the Six-Bob Tour, hitting No.1 in the Italian charts, the events that led to the creation of 2005’s Present, and explains why he decided to update Pioneers Over c on his latest release with Dutch percussionist René van Commenée.

Julian Marszalek

Even at the height of the first wave of prog rock, Van der Graaf Generator were a breed apart. Driven by Peter Hammill’s idiosyncratic songwriting, Hugh Banton’s expressive and expansive organ playing and Guy Evans’s declamatory drumming, there was darkness emanating from the band that cast a long shadow over the opening overs of the 1970s. And there, in the thick of their attack, was the extraordinary saxophone work of David Jackson. No polite blowing from him, but a brass hurricane that whipped up a sonic storm fed through a phalanx of pedals and effects that largely negated guitars while creating a style of his own. Jackson and VdGG may not have been without honour except in their own country – they only troubled the UK Top 50 album chart…

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Prog Italia (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 149

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