A very bright light in the Mack Pherson Family flickered out in February, 2002. Jackie Pittman Passed away.
Jackie was a well known entertainer in the area, and Mike Hardy and I had the pleasure of working with him before Mack Pherson. A couple of months after we formed the band, we heard Jackie would be performing with Darryl Buchanan. We hadn't seen Jackie in a couple of years so we went to the show. He was fairly pissed off that we had put another band together and hadn't invited him to join us. We didn't know he was available at the time, and, we really thought he wouldn't be interested. His talents far exceeded what we were doing at the time. After discussing it with the other two members of the band, we extended an invitation. Truth be told, Mike and I had pretty much decided that if the other guys didn't want Jackie, we'd replace them and proceed with Jack. We were that anxious to work with him again. But they agreed and the sound and direction of Mack Pherson was changed forever.
Jan joined the band about a year later, after Jackie heard her sing and play. The original drummer quit about a year after that, being replaced by Mike Leep Jr. The other guitarist quit too, and we never did replace him. But Charlie Rymers sat in with us one night, Jackie loved him, renamed him "C-Note", and convinced him to join us. That was Jackie. He had a knack for bringing people together. After that, we never looked back.
Throughout all the changes, Jackie was the glue that held everything together. That's not to say we didn't have some personality clashes. Jackie had an ego, no doubt. He had to, to work a crowd like he did. In Jackie's mind it was all about the performance, and personal feelings be damned. Jan shed a lot of tears ("There's no crying in the Band!") and I tore what little hair I had left out over booking fees and other money issues. I don't even want to get into the many heated discussions about what I wore, (hawaiian shirts) or what I didn't wear (shoes) on stage. But, through it all, there was great personal respect between us.
Jackie instilled a sense of pride and confidence in all of us. His professionalism was unparalleled. He taught us that it was our job to entertain; that we were there for the audience, not the other way around. He wanted us to be the best we could be. He demanded it of us. But he made it fun. He turned trips to Chicago gigs into family outings, insisting that we all ride together. If he was in the neighborhood, he'd stop by the house. And you could count on a cold beer waiting for you if you stopped by his place. His sense of humor was always wicked and sharp. We'd laugh until we cried. He could be very serious, and had every reason to be, but chose not to be most of the time. I used to rag him about missing practice all the time. But he didn't need to practice. Practice was just a lot more fun with him there.
We held a fundraiser for Jackie's family a couple days after he passed. That night I found out what kind of man he really was. I knew he was a family man, but I had no idea how large, and close knit, his family was. I knew he worked for the City, but I didn't know how well thought of he was until the Mayor showed up to speak about him. And, God knows, we all understood his musical abilities. But I was shocked when the whole musical community showed up to pay their respects and perform in his honor. We all loved him. But I had no idea how many lives he had touched until we had packed that hall to twice it's capacity, and still had to turn a couple hundred people away at the door. I look back on that night and I'm still amazed. We put almost 800 people; black, white, young, old, into a room built for 400, serving alcohol, and there wasn't a cross word spoken all night. There was a single thread, a commonality shared, that bridged all the diversities of that crowd. And it was Jackie Pittman.
As they say, the show must go on. We've got a great new singer and a new sound. Jan doesn't cry hardly at all anymore. I still dress casually. There's no bickering about money anymore either. It seems so petty. And I think people can tell that when we're onstage we're having the time of our lives. But we will never forget who made this journey with us; who made it possible. And how fortunate we are to have shared a stage, and our lives, with Jackie Pittman.
God Bless you, Jackson
The Band