The Beaux Jaxon Band

You are probably wondering where the name Beaux Jaxon comes from. I was recording at Chung King Studios in NYC and my good friend Dave LaBarba, who also happens to be an outstanding keyboard player, was there laying down some Hammond tracks for my record. As a joke, when I entered, Dave said "Hey, its Bo Jackson" (my name is Bob Jackson) and my producer overheard it and started using it. The engineers, assistants and receptionists started writing it on my tapes, track sheets and session logs and it kind of just stuck. I attribute the spelling to record producer Rob Provitera, owner of Tera Studios. I grew up all over the US but spent most of my childhood in Northern New Jersey; a stone throw from the New York State border and a 1/2 hour drive from NYC. Because of my close proximity to the Big Apple, I was very lucky to have access to and be a part of the New York music scene for virtually all of my musical life. I have several older siblings who love music and a father who was a professional singer at one time in his younger days, so really from birth I was surrounded by many types of music from Nat King Cole, Frank and Tony, to the Beatles, Bob Marley and everything else. My brother Bill is a guitarist as well so we grew up playing music and mercilessly making up songs about anything and everything. As far as my own personal taste in music is concerned, I like anything as long as the songwriting and melodies are solid. My own music relies heavily on melody. I try to create good solid hooks and cycle my melodies throughout the song. I don't follow trends in my songwriting, so the results of my writing are what come out naturally. I think it was John Lennon who said, "If a song takes more than five minutes to write, it probably isn't very good" or something along those lines; the point being you can't force it. I write prolifically but like most writers, much of it ends up on shelves or in the garbage. I only present the songs that I like to the band and we usually do the arrangements on the fly at rehearsals. The band I have now is really my dream band. This set up; acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keys, bass and drums, is best for this type of music. These guys are all pros and very open-minded when it comes to interpreting the songs I write. I try not to give too much direction as to what they should or should not play which allows them to put their own personal touch on the music. I have my own vision of what my songs should sound like but always remain open to good ideas and suggestions. My band-mates are great guys, a pleasure to work with and I'm lucky to have them. I'm a decent guitarist. I have played lead guitar for several bands, Dalton Clay and The Plainhealers are two notables, but in the band's current configuration I play acoustic guitar. Frankly, Zoltan is a better guitarist than me so it's nice to just sit back and watch him go. I have had many guitars over the years; , Les Pauls, Strats, Telecasters, a National Steel Dobro, Guilds and many others I can't remember. I currently play a Martin D1R, a Yamaha APX 6A and a re-issued 1957 Les Paul Special, which I purchased some years back from the Gibson Vintage Shop. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to sound so I prefer vintage tube amps and vintage instruments.