a very expressive player, jackson differentiated himself from other vibraphonists in his attention to variations on harmonics and rhythm. he was particularly fond of the twelve-bar blues at slow tempos. he preferred to set the vibraphone's oscillator to a low 3.3 revolutions per second (as opposed to lionel hampton's speed of 10 revolutions per second) for a more subtle tremolo. on occasion, jackson sang and played piano professionally.