Chubby Jackson, 84; Bassist With Herman’s ‘First Herd’

Chubby Jackson, the ebullient and proficient bass player who in the early 1940s was an essential component of bandleader Woody Herman’s famed “First Herd,� died Wednesday at a hospice near San Diego. He was 84.

Jackson, who played with Louis Armstrong, Charlie Barnet, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie, had suffered from cancer, his family said.

A proficient bassist, Jackson was valued not just for his rhythmic drive but also as a cheerleader and comic presence in Herman’s band, which he joined at the height of his popularity and creativity. As part of the widely admired First Herd -- sometimes called the Thundering Herd -- Jackson encouraged Herman to bring on board other greats of the time, including pianist Ralph Burns and trumpeter Neal Hefti. Burns and Hefti became the band’s key arrangers.

“They really helped bridge the gap between swing -- big-band music -- and bebop,� Dan Del Fiorentino, curator of the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, Calif., said Friday of the First Herd. “Bebop was considered a small-combo style of music, but Woody Herman introduced the idea that a big band could do that. And Chubby was so proud of that. That was a significant breakthrough in music.�

Beginning in 1948, Jackson also was a part of Herman’s Second Herd, which included saxophonists Stan Getz and Zoot Sims.

“Woody ... gave us all a go-ahead sign in regard to some of the daredevil patterns we attempted,� Jackson told Peter La Barbera of Jazz Zine, a Web magazine, a few years ago. “We compared ourselves to the Chicago Bears professional football team that created one victory after another.�

Herman once told George T. Simon, author of “The Big Bands,� that Jackson had “an immense influence� on his band.

“And what enthusiasm!� Herman said. “He used to get around to hear everything. He was always screaming about this musician and that musician, and his taste was so good.�

Starting in 1948, Jackson also sang a scat version of George Wallington’s “Lemon Drop,� which wowed crowds in live performances for years afterward.

Grieg Stewart Jackson was born in New York City and was raised on Long Island. Both his mother and father were in vaudeville and on Broadway.

Jackson began in music playing the clarinet, but turned to the bass as a teenager when he was offered a job with a band. To offset his lack of experience, Del Fiorentino said, Jackson started clowning around, riding the upright bass like a horse and making the audience laugh.

“What’s ironic about that is that he really did have an innate talent for the bass,� said Del Fiorentino, who much later became a friend of Jackson’s. “I think Chubby was born to play the bass.�

Jackson got his nickname when a drummer dropped a drumstick and, when Jackson picked it up for him, the fellow said, “Thanks, Chubby.� The name stuck, even after the portly Jackson lost weight.

In 1958, Jackson was one of more than 50 top jazz musicians who gathered for the famed “Great Day in Harlem� photograph taken by Art Kane for Esquire magazine.

During the 1960s, Jackson was host of a children’s TV show in Chicago and later in New York. He briefly owned a jazz club in North Hollywood. For many years, he played on studio recordings, and he continued to perform until a week before he died.

Jackson is survived by his wife of 20 years, Margot.

Married three times and divorced twice, Jackson is also survived by three children from a previous marriage: son Duffy, a jazz drummer, of Lighthouse Point, Fla.; and daughters Myno of Carlsbad, a singer, and Jaijai of Vista, Calif.