JANS – Everybody’s bluesman Jesse Robinson recently received double honors in his beloved city of Jackson, MS with the naming of a Mississippi Blues Trail marker at the Iron Horse Grill and leading the St. Paddy’s Day parade as 2025 Grand Marshal. Robinson exemplifies the rich, if often overlooked, history of blues in Jackson.
Born in 1944, he grew up in the Delta community of Mileston, where his family owned their own farm and other businesses, and picked up guitar at six. Robinson’s father, James, a guitarist and COGIC minister, moved the family to Jackson when Jesse was in his teens. He became active on the music scene, competing in talent contests at the Alamo Theatre, playing in Duke Huddleston’s big band, and gigging at the Blue Flame and Rocket Lounge in the “Gold Coast”/”Cross the River” entertainment district in Rankin County with musicians including Tommy Tate, Charles Hicks, Calvin Robinson, Walter Gardner, and Willie Thompson. In 1964 Robinson made his first recordings playing behind Amanda Humphrey and Carlton “Sonny” Wells on the local Norton label.
In the mid-60s, Robinson moved to Chicago, where he played with artists, including Eddie Shaw and the team of King Edward and McKinley Mitchell, who later moved to Jackson. In 1971, he returned to Jackson, where his Master Sound Band worked a nightly midnight gig at Jimmy King’s Avalon Court in northwest Jackson. He started a “Blue Monday” series at nearby Dorsey’s, worked with Sam Myers in the Sound Corporation, and played jazz at the Summers Hotel with brothers Kermit Jr., Bernard, and Sherrill Holly and drummer Willie Silas. In the late ‘70s, Robinson began a two-year stint with Little Milton, followed by five years of touring with Bobby Rush, who relocated to Jackson from Chicago in the early ‘80s. Robinson appeared on Rush’s 1982 hit “Sue” and other of his recordings on James Bennett’s Jackson-based LaJam label and is also featured on Rush’s 2004 CD Folk Funk (Deep Rush)…