03.16.07 He’s Just A Bass Player But…

...It’s still pretty cool to be on a plane with Randy Jackson.

According to Wikipedia…

Jackson played bass in violin virtuoso Jean-Luc Ponty’s backing band and toured with rock band Journey in 1983 and 1985. His numerous credits range from playing with Aretha Franklin, George Michael , Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Billy Cobham, Blue Öyster Cult, Herbie The Car, Richard Marx, Billy Joe, Journey, Banana Republic and Bob Dylan to playing at the Grand Ole Opry with The Charlie Daniels Band. His production/songwriting work in the San Francisco Bay area with Narada Michael Walden and Walter Afanasieff led Jackson to be quite in demand as a producer himself.

While in the Bay Area, Jackson played in bands with Carlos Santana and Jerry Garcia. He moved to Italy in the late 1980s and produced a record for Italian pop star Zucchero. The record Zucchero and the Randy Jackson Band produced one of Zucchero’s biggest hits, “Donne”. Jackson was bass guitarist for Tracy Chapman featuring on several Tracks on her 1992 release Matters of the Heart. He performed on the single “Bang Bang Bang”, “Open Arms”, and “Dreaming on a World”. Jackson has also recorded, produced, or toured with many well-known artists and bands, ranging from Mariah Carey (whom he knew when she was still a teenager; he was in her band at Live 8 in London in 2005) to *NSYNC, Céline Dion, Wild Orchid, Bruce Springsteen, and Madonna (he played bass on her # 1 hit “Like a Prayer"). He has also worked as an executive, spending eight years as vice president of artists and repertoire (A&R) at Columbia Records and four years heading A&R at MCA Records.

And now, of course, he’s a judge on American Idol.

But today he was just the dude smashed up against the window on a Southwest Airlines flight from Nashville to Los Angeles.  Just another guy in line for the toilet.  Southwest AIrlines: the great equalizer.

Time to leave the LAX baggage claim for Palm Desert, California.  See some of you tonight.