You won't find the name Bobby Jackson in the jazz books. Yet here is a remarkable man who did more than anyone to promote live jazz in his hometown of Minneapolis, risking everything to open a venue for jazz lovers and putting on such luminaries as Freddie Hubbard, Roland Kirk and Elvin Jones. In so doing he rode the wave of financial insecurity, dealt with problems involving drugs, the law and the police, not to mention the issues and temperaments of the musicians themselves. Yet he still managed to keep things together enough to record a truly deep and inspired album with his band - although it took another 8 years before it was finally released, albeit in minimal quantities and with zero distribution!This is the seventh release from Jazzman's Holy Grail series which tells the story of Bobby Jackson and his Cafe Extra-Ordinaire. The music is deep, modal and progressive jazz. The story is one of bearded coffee-drinking jazz heads, Elvin Jones shedding tears, silver foil backdrops, and we also reveal what happened when a young man named Prince ventured into the cafe one day with the intention to sit in on a jam session!
The CD also contains a 12 page colour booklet with previously unpublished pictures provided by Bobby Jackson himself. Interviews with Jackson and his band help to make up the extensive liner notes, telling the engaging story of the Cafe Extra-Ordinaire and all who took part in it.