James Preston McDonald, better known by his stage name

Stage name

A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 Preston Jackson (January 3, 1902, – November 12, 1983) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trombonist

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

.

Jackson was born in New Orleans and moved to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in 1917, but did not pick up trombone until 1920; within nine months he began playing professionally. Among his teachers in the early 1920s were Roy Palmer

Roy Palmer

Roy Palmer was a U.S. jazz trombonist.Palmer was born in the Carrollton neighborhood of uptown New Orleans, Louisiana. Early in his career he also played violin, guitar and trumpet. He worked with brass bands including the Tuxedo and the Onward, with Papa Celestin, and with Richard M...

 and Honore Dutrey

Honoré Dutrey

Honoré Dutrey was a dixieland jazz trombonist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, probably best known for his work in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band....

. He sometimes deputized for Dutrey in King Oliver's band. In the 1920s he played with Tig Chambers, Al Simone, Eli Rice, and Art Sims, and recorded with Bernie Young and his Creole Jazz Band at the Marsh Laboratories

Autograph Records

Autograph Records was a United States record label of the 1920s.Autograph was a small label, owned by Marsh Laboratories Incorporated of Chicago, Illinois. Marsh Laboratories in turn was owned by electrical engineer Orlando R. Marsh...

 (1923) and Richard M. Jones

Richard M. Jones

Richard M. Jones, born Richard Marigny Jones, was a jazz pianist, composer, band leader, and record producer. Numerous songs bear his name as author, including "Trouble in Mind"....

. In the 1930s he played with Dave Peyton

Dave Peyton

Dave Peyton was an Americansongwriter, pianist, and arranger.Peyton first began as a pianist in the trio of Wilbur Sweatman, where he played from 1908 to 1912. Following this Peyton led his own ensembles in various theaters in Chicago...

 (1930), Erskine Tate

Erskine Tate

Erskine Tate was an American jazz violinist and bandleader.Tate moved to Chicago in 1912 and was an early figure on the Chicago jazz scene, playing with his band, the Vendome Orchestra, at the Vendome Theater, which was located at 31st and State Street...

, Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

 (1931-32), Half Pint Jaxon (1933), Carroll Dickerson

Carroll Dickerson

Carroll Dickerson was a Chicago and New York-based dixieland jazz violinist and bandleader, probably better known for his extensive work with Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines or his more brief work touring with King Oliver....

, Jimmie Noone

Jimmie Noone

Jimmie Noone was an American jazz clarinetist.- Background :...

, Roy Eldridge

Roy Eldridge

Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...

, Walter Barnes

Walter Barnes

Walter Barnes was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader....

, Johnny Long

Johnny Long (musician)

Johnny Long was an American violinist and bandleader, known as "The Man Who's Long on Music". He was raised on a farm in Newell, North Carolina, currently a subdivision of Charlotte. He started practicing with the violin at the age of six, but injured two fingers on his left hand when he was...

 (1939), and Zilner Randolph

Zilner Randolph

Zilner Trenton Randolph was an American jazz trumpeter and music educator.Randolph attended Biddle University , the Kreuger Conservatory, and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, and played in territory bands including Bernie Young's...

's W.P.A. Band. He also played on Johnny Dodds

Johnny Dodds

Johnny Dodds was an American New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds was also the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby"...

's last recordings in 1940.

In the 1940s he began playing less often, but his career saw a resurgence late in the 1950s, playing with Lil Armstrong. Moving back to his childhood home of New Orleans in the 1960s, he began playing at Preservation Hall

Preservation Hall

Preservation Hall is a noted jazz performance hall located at 726 St. Peter Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. It hosts nightly concerts featuring a rotating roster of bands. The bands of Preservation Hall typically perform jazz in the New Orleans style.Despite the fame of the...

 where he would continue to be featured for the rest of his life. He played with Little Brother Montgomery

Little Brother Montgomery

Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer....

 in 1969 and with Kid Thomas

Kid Thomas Valentine

Thomas Valentine, commonly known as Kid Thomas was a jazz trumpeter and bandleader.Kid Thomas was born in Reserve, Louisiana and came to New Orleans in his youth. He gained a reputation as a hot trumpet man in the early 1920s. Starting in 1926 he led his own band, for decades based in the New...

's New Orleans Joymakers in Europe in 1973-74.

In addition to many recordings made as a side man, Jackson recorded as a leader in 1926 and 1946, then issued his own album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 in 1972 and a split album with Benny Waters

Benny Waters

Benny Waters was a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist known, in part, for the longevity of his career....

 the following year.

Jackson died in Blytheville, Arkansas

Blytheville, Arkansas

Blytheville is the largest city in and one of the two county seats of Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 15,620 at the 2010 census....

in November 1983.