Jakko M. Jakszyk (Pronounced Jack-Check)

A Biography

Jakko was born at The Whittington Hospital on Highgate Hill in June 1958, the illegitimate son of a well-known Irish singer and an unknown U.S Airman. 18 months later he was officially adopted by a War weary Polish émigré and his French wife. He was brought up in Hertfordshire by his strict father and doting mother to a soundtrack of Richard Straus, Edith Piaf and Jim Reeves.

Jakko's ambition to become a professional footballer took a fatal blow when he failed his trial for Watford Boy's. He consoled himself by closing the bedroom door and playing guitar to his prized 'King Crimson' and 'Henry Cow' albums. That summer he joined the National Youth Theater.

At the tender age of 16 his newly formed band 'Soon After' came third in the Melody Maker national Rock Competition. An achievement made all the more remarkable, by the strange music perpetrated by a line up of two screaming lead guitars and a trumpet.

He left school and after an unsuccessful stint in a polystyrene egg box factory and joined a touring Theater in Education company. For the next few years he fronted the legendary 64 Spoons. Success is all about timing. 64 Spoons were the wrong band at the wrong time. They were once memorably and indeed accurately described by the late Gary Holton as "Stravinsky meets the Baron Knights".

Jakko has been a professional musician since the age of 17. Initially carving out something of a reputation as a guitarist.  In the early 80's Jakko played with Canterbury Legends Dave Stewart and Pip Pyle in Rapid Eye Movement. He continued to work with Dave Stewart playing live, recording his numerous albums and singles with Barbra Gaskin. He also played and sang lead vocal on 5 songs on Pip Pyles solo record '7 Year Itch'. Shortly after this he signed to Chiswick records for whom he produced and recorded a solo album that has yet to be released. After this he signed to Stiff records and made another album and 3 singles. He then signed to Virgin records and made yet another unreleased solo album. Jakko went on to play on around 100 records that cover the musical gamut from big selling pop albums to the experimental avant guard. In '87 he worked with Sam Brown on her album 'Stop'. He also spent time in New York as a member of The Lodge. A band that featured ex Henry Cow member John Greaves, Peter Blegvad and Golden Palomino's founder drummer Anto Fier. The bands album 'The Smell of a Friend' was released on Island records. Along with Drummer Gavin Harisson (porcupine Tree) they created the fictious 'Kings of Oblivion' a homage to Frank Zappa. One album  'Big Fish Popcorn' was released on BamCaruso.

In the late 80's Jakko moved to LA where he played and produced a number of records.

He came back to Europe in late '89 following the success of his band Dizrythmia (the critically acclaimed Anglo Asian project featuring legendary bass player Danny Thompson and master tabla player Pandit Dinesh) in Italy. He then spent a large part of the following year touring with Italian artist 'Alice' as well as playing on her subseqenut albums and those of fellow Italian artist Franco Battiato. His reputation as a guitar player eventually led to him being asked to join the multi million selling Level 42. Jakko toured and recorded with them for four years and in the December '98 issue of 'Guitarist' magazine he was included in their list of the top 50 guitarist's of the 80's.

Since '94 Jakko has released four solo albums and his collaborative projects include three albums with ex members of  Japan, and the album 'Blood Brother' with Tom Robinson which won them the International GLAMA award for best recording at their New York ceremony in 1998.

Jakko is, in fact, something of a multi instrumentalist. His interest in World music and a desire to play as many unusual instruments as possible has lead him to become Carlin Music Library's premier composer of their vast ethnic catalog.

Jakko has also written and performed title and incidental music for film and television this includes;  Jo Brands 'Through The Cakehole', all three series of the BAFTA nominated 'Chef ', the TV movie 'In Dreams' starring Bill Patterson and Lenny Henry,  Clive James' 'Postcard From Bombay', Central Television's 'Hard Cases' and music for ITV's coverage of the rugby World Cup. He also composed the orchestral scores for two CD ROM titles 'World War II' and 'The War In The Pacific'. He scored a series of documentaries for the Discovery channel. . His corporate event work has included large scale shows in surround sound for Walls, Toyota, Compaq, Playstation, Hewlet Packard, Panasonic, Xerox, an award wining show for Motorolla, and the launch of Williams new F1 racing car in 2003 to name but a few. The content ranges from ethnic based dance music to his classical arrangement of Jupiter from the planet suite for Swiss Bank UBS in 2002. He also composed and recorded the music and soundscapes for permanent installations for 3 Mobile and Vodaphone.

In the mid 90's he has began to work in broadcasting starting with his award nominated story about his trans-Atlantic search for his real mother for Radio 4's 'Tuesday Lives'.

In 1995 Jakko was commissioned by BBC radio 3 to compose a forty-five minute composition based on his life and the extraordinary lives of his far flung family. The finished  piece 'The Road To Ballina' was broadcast in December 1996 and received a glowing press for it's original and inventive combination of music and speech. The program was chosen by the BBC as it's arts feature entry for the '1997 Sony Radio Awards'. It has subsequently been released on CD. 

Jakko completed another commission for Radio 3 for their series of experimental compositions 'Between the Ears' using the same technique. This explored the intrigue and mystery surrounding the death of 'Mario Lanza' and was broadcast again to great critical acclaim. This too was the BBC's nomination for the Sony's Radio awards.

In 2000 Jakko Produced Peter Blegvad's 'Choices Under Pressure' to rave reviews and the following year he finished producing & arranging tracks for eclectic singer/songwriter Sheila Nicholls album for Disney's Hollywood records. As well as producing and playing Jakko also composed the string arrangements.

In 2002 Jakko began fronting 21^st Century Schizoid Band as lead vocalist and guitarist. A band that features 4 ex members of the ground breaking King Crimson. In the next 3 years the band toured the world. UK, Europe, Russia, Japan, Mexico and the US. Have produced a DVD of one of their shows in Japan and released 3 Live CD's. The most recent 'Pictures of a City - Live in New York' has received rave reviews.

In  a review of their April New York Shows Variety magazine said: 'Former Level 42 guitarist Jakko Jakszyk carried the guitar and lead vocal duties, simultaneously filling the shoes of Crim guitarist Robert Fripp and former Crim vocalist Greg Lake with ease and aplomb'