Al Jackson Jr.

Jackson\'s father, Al Jackson Sr., led a jazz/swing dance band in Memphis, Tennessee. The young Jackson started drumming at an early age and began playing on stage with his father\'s band in 1940, at the age of five. He later played in producer and trumpeter Willie Mitchell\'s band and at the same time was holding down a chair in the popular Ben Branch Band.\n', '

In an interview with Drum! magazine, Mitchell recalled,\n', '

Future bandmates Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn first heard Jackson playing in Mitchell\'s band at the Flamingo Room, and the all-white Manhattan Club. Mitchell had also hired Booker T. Jones for his band. It was Jones who suggested Jackson be brought to Stax. He said, "You guys need to know about Al." Dunn said that Jackson almost caused his wife to divorce him, because after finishing his own gig at one o\'clock, he would stop by a club to hear Jackson and…