Randy Jackson at the Bowery Electric

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Randy Jackson started playing piano and guitar at age five. In 1973, at age 18, he played locally in Shepards Bush as lead guitarist with bassist Felix Hanemann. They formed Zebra in 1975 with drummer Guy Gelso, and Jackson became the lead vocalist for the hard-rocking power trio. Zebra played New Orleans bars for two years, then relocated to Long Island, New York, to a thriving club circuit. Zebra's self-titled debut album went gold, and its five albums and five videos sold more than 2,000,000 products. Zebra was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2012. Aside from Zebra, Jackson is the featured vocalist in a symphonic program, "The Music of Led Zeppelin," which has morphed into "The Music of Pink Floyd" and similar packages with orchestras in Florida, Georgia, and Virginia. Jackson also performs solo, and released Empathy for the Walrus, Music of the Beatles, on February 4, 2014; Jackson produced and engineered the album, played all instruments and sang all the parts.

As part of a northeast club tour, Jackson performed a solo acoustic show at the Bowery Electric tonight. Considering the diminutive size of the venue and the small number of attendees, Jackson's acoustic guitar and vocals were highly over-amplified. Considering the booming volume, it would be hard to call this presentation "unplugged." Jackson sat on a stool and began by singing and strumming and finger-picking wailing leads on several Zebra songs. Even in this downsized presentation, these songs were still poignant. "Tell Me What You Want" featured the recurring line that echoed the anger, frustration and bitterness of the aftermath of an argument with a lover. Zebra's rock often was compared to Led Zeppelin, and Jackson's fine vocals tonight continued to recall Robert Plant. Zebra was also known, especially initially, for its wealth of cover material, and tonight's presentation included blasting many Beatles songs. This was the ultimate downfall of the night; the Beatles songs were done better by the Beatles. With this tribute out of his system, hopefully Jackson will return soon to rocking.