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'Fast' Fred Jackson, who formed the Manhattan Blues Alliance in the blues halcyon days of 1984, has devoted a great deal of his time to the preservation and promotion of the blues in New York using television as his main platform. Over the last 12 years, Jackson has been responsible for networking musicians together with clubs and festivals, giving visibility to local as well as national acts, promoting blues women and providing cultural education about the blues up and down the Eastern seaboard.
Jackson founded the Manhattan Blues Alliance originally to fight the cabaret laws which, at the time, had a requirement that no more than three musicians could be on stage (at Dan Lynch's for example) at a time. That meant that one musician, often an extra guitar or harmonica player, would play in the basement and the audio was pumped upstairs through the PA. The second reason for starting the MBA was to teach the blues to people and procure an audience for it.
Capital was needed to further education in the blues. In 1986, Jackson created 'Juke Joint,' a public access blues show which was designed to educate viewers. He led on-the-air workshops until it ended in 1991. Jackson has always been drawn to television to reach the greatest numbers of people. He then created the public access show 'Blues In The Night' for which he produced over 200 shows to date, once a week on Manhattan cable, Channel 17. For his TV programs, Jackson brings his own video crew around to clubs, festivals and concerts where blues acts are playing throughout the Tri-state area. He has also produced shows featuring jam sessions out of local clubs like Manny's Car Wash in NYC. In the past, Jackson has had the cooperation of the Baruch Colledge broadcast studio to produce shows with artists such as the Holmes brothers, and the late great guitarist/harpist Louis Meyers (who played with Muddy). Not surprisingly, the ubiquitous Jackson has managed to utilize a satellite uplink which allows 'Blues In The Night' to be seen on public access TV all over the East Coast and Austin, Texas.

  We are looking for some input from our viewers. We need some nominations for The Hudson Valley All Star Blues Band. Please send you nominations, including Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards, Harp, Drums, Vocals etc... to Fred Jackson at nycblues@frontiernet.net

  Also check out Ed and Fred's BEST and BRIGHTEST. OK, should it be Fred and Ed's or Ed and Fred's? Hey, they can't decide, but they sure got a lot to say. Check them out here

  Also new this month, check out our chat rooms and forums (they're not java) where you can ask questions about what happened to your favorite blues artists or find out who's playing where or just chat with other Blues lovers. Please feel free to use these forums (links to your pages, show dates, anything blues .) click here

Don't forget to check out the Blues Ring on our links page. click here

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