PAT JACKSON

By Benjamin Joe

I caught Patrick Jackson playing upright bass on the front stage of Nietzsche’s Halloween night. The event was a precursor to the bar’s weekly open-mic and Jackson was performing with the Catskill Mountain Boys , a three string band playing covers such as “Mama Tried” and a few originals as well.

They’d only gotten together to practice a total of two times.

For Jackson, this is just the way things go. He is playing in three bands right now, gigging every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night with rehearsals on his days off, as well as practicing by himself to keep his chops down for those fatal moments when a musician’s career could sky rocket.

Seemingly devoid of any ambitions, Jackson is a down to earth character. He’s been playing music since his mother sent him to piano classes down in South Buffalo. You could say that while Pat may not be a born musician, he has hammered himself into one.

“I had to learn to play bass,” he said, reminiscing on his youth as a Ringo obsessed drum player whose friends had just formed a band. “They already had a kid who could play drums pretty good.”

When he was 14, his piano instructor found him an upright bass teacher. Like many budding musicians at the time, he only played electric bass. It was this teacher that found Jackson a bass to rent and where Pat’s career began.

Really he just wanted to play jazz, but to rent the bass he had to play in the orchestra as well. He eventually got into college as an upright bass mostly off of his “jazz chops.”

“I ended up getting into Buff State,” he said. “I went there for three and half years… and during that time I met Ellen Pieroni who was a saxophone player and the booking agent at Nietzsche’s. She played saxophone for Folkfaces.”

Last October Folkfaces started having trouble with their bass player and Pieroni asked Jackson to play.

He played one gig with them at a punk house in Rochester in an attic. No one was making any money. They were basically just playing for friends, but it was a critical show for Jackson.

“It was kind of a weird scene,” he said. “The proceeds were going to the Red Cross, or something… they were wary of me, like who’s this guy? I played really loud and fast that night and they gave me the job.”

Jackson is doubling down on Folkfaces. He explained that the band had many incarnations, but it’s a working band. No one goes hungry whether in town or on tour.

“I always thought the band could go somewhere,” Jackson said. “And it’s nice to see progress being made and gathering an audience outside of Buffalo. Before I joined they won Artvoice’s Battle of the Bands and played the first Kerfuffle down at the canal. I mean, the band had success before I joined… hopefully an album comes up soon.”

Jackson thinks the new album could help in spreading its audience outward beyond Buffalo. He feels a good show equates to buying a $10 CD, and it’ll make a difference in turning the band onto fans’ friends.

The album will be a compilation of older songs by Tyler Wescott, and Dan Borodzik some of which were written seven years ago. Pat thinks that recording them will help them create some new sounds.

“Now that the lineup of the band has stabilized, it’s important to start collaborating on some songs together,” Jackson said.

He reluctantly spoke about the expense of being a musician. He ticked off the cons one by one. He said that it’s easier when you’re younger to justify then, but it’s that “artistic dream” has a “golden window of opportunity.” A lot of musicians have moved off, he noted, but also said that Buffalo’s scene is unique in a way that gets musicians ready to take on the world and they aren’t limited because they’ve played so many styles.

“Buffalo musicians play everything,” he said.

Though recognizing the negatives of the scene, of the experience, there’s still nothing he’d rather do. Asked about some crazy stories, he recalled one night in Connecticut when the venue’s owner had them over her house and just hanging out all night with her and her husband.

“That’s the fun part of touring. It’s just meeting new people and having to trust them,” Jackson said, a smile on his face as he sat back, content and recalling.

“It’s like I just met this guy, not a serial killer, and went record shopping,” he mused.

Folkfaces recording should be done and ready to distribute by next year.