BOBBY JACKSON... 

This week the Consortium, public  radio and the jazz community suffered a huge loss.  We lost Bobby Jackson... Music aficionado, broadcaster, award winning producer, champion for jazz, Consortium partner, and adoring  dad and husband.

Bobby was a larger than life presence in the jazz community.  He brought the voices of jazz artists to the airwaves at every opportunity; interviewing them in the studio, at festivals, in their homes or wherever there was an opportunity to capture their essence on tape.  The artists trusted him.  So much so that jazz luminary  George Duke (who passed away earlier this year) entrusted Bobby with impromptu conversations recorded with other artists talking about music in his basement , that George mirthfully  called "Dukey's Den".

For the past three years Bobby has produced "The Roots of Smooth", a 1-hour music and interview show distributed by the African-American Public Radio Consortium network.   Broadcast on twenty stations in the U.S., and a station in Kumasi, Ghana, "The Roots of Smooth" is an elegant weekly jazz program that uses the voices and recordings of artists to share stories of how their life experiences and passions helped to shape their music. 

It's a program model that Bobby envisioned for years, and each carefully produced episode treated the listener to the music, life story and musings of a wide array of classic and contemporary jazz artists.

Bobby was a cornerstone in the building of the Consortium programming service.  He brought to our project his many years of experience as a programmer and producer at WCLK in Atlanta, and WCPN in Cleveland. When we reached out to him three years ago he immediately saw the value in collaborating with fellow producers and stations to create content to uplift and illuminate African-American music and culture.  He was a warrior for jazz who was loved and respected by the music industry, festival producers and fellow jazz hosts nationwide. 

Not withstanding his passion for the music, Bobby was an attentive father and husband.  Anyone talking to him for any length of time knew in short order that his family was his pride and joy.

Bobby's departure leaves a gaping void that only time and the incremental inclusion of his contributions to jazz culture will soothe.  He had a rich, welcoming radio voice, and those who knew him will remember it forever. Bobby was  57 at the time of his passing.  

He is survived by his wife Lisa-Jean, and his 10-year old son Xavier.