Born in Biddeford, Maine, The Jackson Garrett Band composer/producer Christopher Gore was raised in New England and Montreal before moving west and finding his home in Southern California. He began composing music at the age of seventeen, and actively performs many of those very compositions to this day.
In 1985, while in Montreal, he founded “Upstairs”, a successful jazz club and restaurant which, although Gore has since sold it, is still going strong today. It was there that he began to appreciate the “American Songbook”, and it was during this
time that he developed his musical aptitude and direction from the talented musicians he hired nightly.
In California, Gore met Pat Rizzo, local saxophonist whose credits include long stints with Sly and The Family Stone, War, and Frank Sinatra. Then, Gore was performing one night in Palm Springs with a small trio when in walked (the late) Walter Earl Brown (Earl), composer of the hit Elvis song “If I Can Dream,” Grammy and Emmy award winner, and music arranger and writer for dozens of hit variety shows including The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, The Dinah Shore Show, and countless others. Gore and Earl Brown became great friends, and then business partners.
With the help of Rizzo and Brown, The Jackson Garrett Band was formed by Gore, and the band began a long-standing relationship in the recording studio which has produced four CDs to date, "Please Call Me, Sanjaya!" (2008), "Cool and Easy" (2009), "Speechless" (2010), and "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie"(2011).
As of this writing, The Jackson Garrett Band loosely consists of Christopher Gore(vocals, keys), Marty Steele(keys, horn arrangements), Jeff Stover(bass), Dennis Burke(drums), John Pagels(guitar), Steve Alaniz(sax), Stan Watkins(trumpet), Stu Undem(trombone), Kristi King(vocals), Alina Rose(vocals) and Diva Denise Carter(vocals).
On the local scene, The Jackson Garrett Band performs regularly as a 10-piece band for charity events and special concerts, and sometimes in a smaller ensemble at nightclubs.
