AN AMERICAN MUSICIAN
In its brief existence, Storyville was likely the most competitive music-scene in the United States (if not the world). Young black men and women were drawn to its relatively free and comparatively well-paid nightlife, with literally hundreds of jobs as performers. Their efforts evolved from the popular rags and sentimental songs, and created bright, high-energy music for a new era. To be considered the best - jockeying with Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Loius Armstrong - was to attain one of the pinnacles of musical recognition.
In early 1800s France, the revolutionary government imposed a system to "hygienically-regulate" prostitution; it was spread across Europe by Napoleonic conquest and continued after the Empire collapsed. Features included physical isolation, registration of sex workers, regular medical examinations, and policing. 'Regulationism' claimed to manage the spread of syphilis and tuburculosis; it was particularly enforced in seaport cities. 'Red-light' districts soon appeared from St. Petersburg to Cadiz.
The port of New Orleans was a late-comer. In the 1890s the city commissioned a study of Hamburg's 'Reeperbahn,' and 'De Wallen' in Amsterdam. Councilman Sidney Story wrote legislation, and in 1897 prostitutes were proscribed outside a 38-block district between the French Quarter and the St. Louis Cemetery. That district included one of the main railroad stations and was adjacent to the docks and popular hotels; saloons and entertainments found 'Storyville' attractive. Directories to bordellos were published during its existence. But with involvement of the US in WW1, the War Department pressed the city to close Storyville so troops would not be distracted during deployment. The area later became public-housing.
During the Storyville years, famous brothel operators included LuLu White (Mahogany Hall), Willie Piazza, Antonia Gonzales, and Gipsy Schaffer. Their businesses included ostentatious parlors, fancy bars, stages, and musical entertainments. Nearby saloons such as Frank Early's, Abadie's pool-hall and The Frenchman's Cafe also included stages for small orchestras and pianists. Performers who shared these venues during late nights soon developed a pecking-order, giving-up their places if a superior performer arrived. Pianist Jelly Roll Morton was a stand-out (an opinion he shared), but even he would relinquish his stool to Toney Jackson.
Antonio Junius Jackson, Jr was the youngest of seven born to former slaves Antonio Sr. and Rachel. The family lived in Treme, where his father was a laborer and occasional fisherman. Toney and his twin (Prince) arrived somewhere between 1876 and 1888, parish records for 1884 indicate Prince died in his second year. Toney suffered epileptic seizures throughout his life, and much of his childhood was spent at home, only leaving for church or school.   
Despite health problems, he built a stringed musical instrument at the age of seven, on which he played songs learned at church. Hearing the child, a neighbor who owned an ancient reed organ worked a trade: Toney would wash dishes in exchange for sketchy lessons and practice-time. In the mid-90s he began to learn the piano in off-hours at bandleader Adam Olivier's saloon, and was shortly playing during business-hours and in Olivier's band (which then included trumpeter Bunk Johnson). Soon he was scouting in 'the district' for chances to play the piano at saloons and bawdy-houses.
By 1900, Jackson ruled Storyville nightlife, with a flashy piano style and a substantial vocal range. By this time, he had moved out of his parents' home, living in rooms above Frank Early's saloon. He would often play the famous white piano at Willie Piazza's, or accompany Antonia Gonzales' cornet. One of his specialties was playing a cakewalk, kicking over the stool and dancing while he played. Late nights, musicians would gather at The Frenchman's Saloon.
Years later, Jelly Roll Morton told Alan Lomax, "All these (pianists) were hard to beat, but when Tony Jackson walked in, any one of them would get up from the piano stool. If he didn't, somebody was liable to say, 'Get up from that piano. You hurting its feelings. Let Tony play.' Tony was real dark, and not a bit good-looking, but he had a beautiful disposition. He was the outstanding favorite of New Orleans... There was no tune that come up from any opera or any show of any kind or anything that was wrote on paper that Tony couldn't play. He had such a beautiful voice and a marvelous range.
Singer Alberta Hunter said: "Everybody would go to hear Tony Jackson after hours. Tony was just marvelous - a fine musician, spectacular, but still soft. He could write a song in two minutes and was one of the greatest accompanist I've every listened to..."
By this time, Toney was known to be a homosexual. While not a problem in Storyville, it became an issue for his parents and in the broader community.   To get away, in 1904 he toured with Whitman Sisters' New Orleans Troubadors, but - dissatisfied - left the tour in Louisville to make his way back home. The following year he accepted a date in Chicago, and several more in the winter of 1907-08. But it wasn't until after his mother died in 1913 that Jackson left New Orleans. An attraction was support within Chicago's (underground) gay community. But leaving Storyville also gave Toney the opportunity to perform more often for the general public, at the Pekin Cafe and the Deluxe.
Another important bonus in Chicago was access to music publishers. In 1915, lyricist Gus Kahn and his partner Egbert Van Alstyne (local manager of J.H. Remick & Co. music publishers) heard Jackson perform his ditty "Pretty Baby" at the Deluxe. Toney had composed the tune years before, and sang it with impromptu lyrics. The version Kahn heard was dedicated to Jackson's current boyfriend, and they proposed to re-write the words for a general audience and publish the song. Toney agreed, and to the publication crediting Kahn as lyricist; but was vocally dissatisfied when it also credited Van Alstyne as a co-composer. He was also disappointed that he was not paid royalties. His unhappiness was supported by many Chicago musicians, who were hostile to Van Alstyne until he died in 1951.
"Pretty Baby" was a hit for Fanny Brice. The song was folowed by nine others known to be published (several others are claimed, but remain undocumented). Jackson's notoriety increased across the US, but he continued to be happy as a lounge-singer. Perhaps his lack of ambition was dictated by increasing health problems, compounded by alcohol-abuse dating back to his days in Olivier's saloon.   By 1920 his sister Maria and her husband moved to Chicago to live with him.
The Chicago Defender reported Toney Jackson died in March 1921 of liver failure, before he reached 39.
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