{"title":"D. D. Jackson","description":"\u003cp\u003eCanadian-born, New York-based pianist\/ composer D.D. Jackson re-signed with Justin Time Records in 2001 after two CD’s on RCA Victor, and promptly released “Sigame” to unanimous critical acclaim. Now Jackson has produced what is arguably his finest, most heartfelt work to date: “Suite for New York” (2003 Justin Time), his 11th CD and a large-scale work that is both a celebration of Jackson’s adoptive city and also a meditation on the tragic events of 9\/11. It is also a work which combines his backgrounds of jazz and classical music in a fresh, organic way, and features the legendary James Spaulding on alto sax and flute, along with a bevy of Canadian talent including Metalwood’s Brad Turner on trumpet, rounded out by a string section led by Jackson mainstay Christian Howes on violin and the pianist’s longtime trio featuring Cuban-born Dafnis Prieto on drums and bassist Ugonna Okegwo.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe 36-year-old Jackson was recently named the 2002 National Jazz Awards Socan Composer\/Songwriter of the Year. His work has been nominated for 5 Juno Awards and he won the 2000 Juno Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Jackson was also named the 2000 Downbeat Critics Poll #1 Talent Deserving Wider Recognition for Piano and the 2000 Jazz Report Composer of the Year.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRecent appearances as leader for Jackson include solo piano concerts across Japan and in Berlin, Tel Aviv, Prague, Chicago, San Francisco, Italy and the JVC Jazz Fest in Toronto in a double bill with pianist Brad Mehldau; trio performances in Guimaraes, Portugal; performance in the Yukon Territory and with Hamiet Bluiett at Jazz at Lincoln Center; and D.D. Jackson Group appearances at the Newport Jazz Festival, the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival in Saratoga, and at New York's Iridium. Jackson's recording of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in its original jazz band version with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra was also recently released on Summit Records. His performances have also frequently aired on such programs as CBC radio's Jazz Beat and CBC television's Jazz Cafe, TV Ontario’s Studio 2, and Bravo television, and in the States on BET JAZZ, National Public Radio’s JazzSet with Brandford Marsalis, and Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eJackson is a commissioned composer. He collaborated with storyteller David Gonzalez on the Broadway show “Mytholojazz\" (the New York Times praised him for his “sophisticated, propulsive jazz” and deemed him “one hell of a jazz pianist”) before bringing the show on the road to performance venues throughout the U.S. and Canada. On July 1, 2000, Jackson premiered “New York Suite”, a major 80-minute large-scale work for jazz\/classical ensemble, at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Bandshell featuring such NY luminaries as drummer Ralph Peterson, trumpeter Jack Walrath, saxophonist James Spaulding, percussionist Bobby Sanabria, and violinist Marlene Rice. Jackson is additionally working on a new jazz opera with librettist and Governor General literary award recipient George Elliot Clarke to be premiered Sept.\/03 at the Guelph Jazz Festival.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eJackson is also a published writer: the September\/2001 of Downbeat features an article he wrote on his major label experience and he writes a regular column for the same magazine entitled “Living Jazz”.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAs a sideman, Jackson has performed and recorded with some of the most important names in cutting edge jazz including James Carter, Jane Bunnett, Billy Bang, Chico Freeman, Carlos Ward and Dewey Redman. He has toured several continents as a regular member of the David Murray Big Band, Octet, Quartet, and the David Murray\/D.D. Jackson Duo, and has appeared on three David Murray albums including the acclaimed “Octet Plays ‘Trane”. For the past several years, Jackson has also participated in the development of a Broadway-bound stage musical involving Murray, blues great Taj Mahal, Grateful Dead member Bob Weir, and director Avery Brooks on the life of Negro baseball league pitcher Satchel Paige. Jackson has also traveled to Senegal, West Africa, where he participated in Mor Thiam's debut CD for Justin Time Records “Back to Africa” featuring some of the greatest names in Senegalese pop music and drumming, and was asked to take the place of Don Pullen in his last and perhaps greatest project: a collaboration between Pullen's African-Brazilian Connection, the Chief Cliff Singers (a Native American singing and drumming group), and the Garth Fagan Dance Company.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eJackson received his Bachelor of Music with High Distinction in Classical Piano from Indiana University in 1989, and his Master of Music in Jazz from the Manhattan School of Music in 1991. He is also an avid Internet fan and maintains his own, detailed website.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.ddjackson.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa fa-globe fa-3x\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ddjacksonmusic\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa fa-facebook-square fa-3x\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"new-york-suite-1","title":"New York Suite","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEverything about this project is cinematic. As with most of D.D. Jackson's earlier CDs, he thinks visually. Steeped in classical music, the 36-year-old, Canadian-born pianist-composer-arranger-producer has once again created a massive tone poem. Suite for New York is sweepingly programmatic, precisely written and yet, where called for, so extemporaneous, it sounds a bit like \"Richard Strauss Meets Sun Ra.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFor his latest magnum opus, Jackson chose an ambitious tableau of New York, calling it \"a collective group meditation on the events on 9\/11,\" paying tribute \"to New Yorkers' heroism and spirit of resilience.\" For the undertaking, he employs a frontline of trumpeter Brad Turner, trombonist Tom Walsh, alto saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding and baritone saxophonist David Mott as well as violin and cello often overdubbed, a hyperkinetic rhythm section and even a poet, David Gonzalez, who reads his \"Eight Million Dreamers.\" Spaulding and Turner are outstanding.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eApparently incapable of thinking small (Jackson recently completed a jazz opera), his Suite for New York is well over an hour of painting his adoptive city with broad strokes, capturing its sights, sounds and nervous energy. The music on tracks such as \"Brooklyn Lullaby,\" \"El Barrio\" and \"BQE\" (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) are self-explanatory. Other tracks, labeled \"Invocation,\" require a scorecard. That's where the clarity of liner annotator Howard Mandel is eloquently helpful. But listening without reading (the litmus test for any music) is still a memorable experience. Jackson's creation is an impressive montage of controlled chaos, exciting solo work and promise of things to come: a febrile fusion of futuristic jazz, contemporary classical, streetwise funk and Afro-Cuban sensuality.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFrom the JazzTimes review by: Harvey Siders\u003c\/em\u003e","brand":"D. D. Jackson","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39492487413920,"sku":"0068944018857","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39492893606048,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/8ff364d4-00f1-47db-ba04-293d3fdd67672861830342113787190-LARGE_59d9da16-13bd-42f3-b136-f24a9fb69dcb.jpg?v=1615929394"},{"product_id":"paired-down-vol-3","title":"Paired Down, Vol. 1","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDuring a three-day period, pianist D.D. Jackson recorded a series of duets with some of his favorite musicians; the results are two colorful and diverse CDs that are full of variety, adventure, and a bit of humor.\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eVol. 1\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efeatures the percussive Jackson in collaborations with tenor and C-melody saxophonist James Carter (who borders on the hilarious during \"Rhythm and Things\"), the talented if underrated trumpeter Hugh Ragin, bassist Santi Debriano, baritonist Hamiet Bluiett, violinist Billy Bang, and tenor saxophonist David Murray. All of the ten selections (except for two by the trumpeter) are Jackson originals. Although the second CD is also well worth getting, the first disc gets the edge due to the particularly fine playing of Carter and Ragin. An intriguing set that grows in interest with each listening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e-Scott Yanow\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"D. D. Jackson","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39492518052000,"sku":"0068944009954","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39492909760672,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/3d2e726c-fa93-45ce-9c29-9f5598c984bf17986471219459217798-LARGE_d471b6f7-82eb-476c-a655-e3e2dc69d1c8.jpg?v=1615929655"},{"product_id":"paired-down-vol-4","title":"Paired Down, Vol. 2","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOn three days in late 1996, D.D. Jackson recorded an extensive series of duets that have been released on a pair of Justin Time CDs. Volume Two matches Jackson with the humorous trombonist Ray Anderson, flutist Jane Bunnett, clarinetist Don Byron, bassist Santi Debriano, violinist Billy Bang and tenor saxophonist David Murray. Except for a couple of Ragin originals, all of the compositions are Jackson's, and they explore a variety of moods, tone colors and grooves. The colorful interplay between Jackson and his collaborators always holds one's interest. Volume One gets a slight edge, but the second CD is also well worth checking out, almost serving as a guide to the avant-garde of the late '90s.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eScott Yanow, All Music Guide\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"D. D. Jackson","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39492558422176,"sku":"0068944010455","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39492923850912,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/dc4d25e4-4556-4842-afd0-ccdec73a33bc12607136952764302838-LARGE_34874655-b04a-46da-8a48-fa3e10d9d968.jpg?v=1615929911"},{"product_id":"peace-song-2","title":"Peace Song","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOn his debut as a leader, 27-year-old pianist D.D. Jackson often plays overcrowded chords in catchy rhythmic phrases that are very reminiscent of the late great pianist Don Pullen, although on some of the slower pieces he shows more originality. Jackson's compositions are sometimes soulful, but his inside\/outside playing (on quartets, trios, and a solo \"Funerale\") is quite unpredictable. Tenor saxophonist David Murray throws everything he can into his solo on the opener, \"Waltz for a New Life,\" evolving from screams and honks to upper-register screeches; all of his other improvisations seem anticlimatic and almost mellow in comparison. Bassist John Geggie and drummer Jean Martin (who, as with the pianist, are from Ottawa, Canada) are fine in support, but one's attention is constantly drawn to the solos of Murray and Jackson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e-Scott Yanow\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"D. D. Jackson","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39492610228384,"sku":"0068944007257","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39492946231456,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/5c83f57b-aae8-46e4-9e63-da31e4e8180916540214260292608970-LARGE_1007333d-f2bc-4c1a-af8e-0da08a669511.jpg?v=1615930231"},{"product_id":"rhythm-dance-2","title":"Rhythm-Dance","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe intriguing pianist D.D. Jackson teams up with bassist John Geggie (who has an otherworldly bowed bass feature on \"Ayse\") and drummer Jean Martin for a continually interesting trio set. Jackson's style closely emulates that of his mentor, the late Don Pullen, sometimes featuring clusters of dissonant notes played in rhythmic fashion which makes his music seem fairly accessible despite its unpredictable nature. Some of Jackson's own musical personality sneaks through at times (particularly on the ballads) and he tends to be more melodic than Pullen. D.D. Jackson will surely become a more individual player as time passes and this excellent outing (which features 11 of his diverse originals interpreted in a wide range of moods) is well worth exploring.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e-Scott Yanow\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"D. D. Jackson","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39492640178336,"sku":"0068944008957","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39492965499040,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/cb6e7a11-3ff6-4517-844c-c08329f9340110349031852854237943-LARGE_0532c3e1-87f4-41f3-af71-e72dbcb6bf1f.jpg?v=1615930564"},{"product_id":"serenity-song-2","title":"Serenity Song","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis new recording comes at a new crossroads in the life of acclaimed pianist\/composer D.D. Jackson. There is a sense of tranquility and security in his music as a result of Jackson’s recent marriage and new home, both of which have informed his compositional process. The recording features Jackson’s core trio with Dafnis Prieto on drums and Ugonna Okegwo on bass, augmented by soprano sax wunderkind Sam Newsome, cellist\/trombonist Dana Leong and longtime collaborator Christian Howes on various string instruments. The result is perhaps D.D. Jackson’s most melodic to date, while still possessing the variety and undercurrent of adventure that has always been irresistible to the pianist\/composer. “The Recovery” was written in memory of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and also in tribute to its survivors and the challenges they face.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"D. D. Jackson","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39492674945184,"sku":"0068944022250","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39492976804000,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/c367763f-d38c-48ee-b8db-a6554ccc271f4934240091399889995-LARGE_1323110e-8bfa-400e-a5a3-5589459916a3.jpg?v=1615930874"},{"product_id":"sigame-2","title":"Sigame","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe 34-year-old Jackson won the 2000 Juno Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, and was also named the 2000 Downbeat Critics Poll #1 Talent Deserving Wider Recognition for Piano and the 2000 Jazz Report Composer of the Year. After a series of highly regarded discs as leader and co-leader (including his recent Justin Time collaboration with World Saxophone baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett and AACM original member Kahil El’Zabar entitled “The Calling”), Jackson returns with the acoustic, mostly piano trio set entitled Sígame.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSígame (meaning “follow me” in Spanish and pronounced SIG’-a-may”) features a more distinctly latin tinge than his previous work, and the melody, groove, and sense of adventure that have become trademarks of Jackson’s style. He is joined on this album of all-original material by some of the most dynamic and diverse young musicians on the New York scene: longtime Jacky Terrasson and Leon Parker bassist Ugonna Okegwo; 26 year-old Cuban drumming\/percussion sensation Dafnis Prieto; Latin\/jazz\/classical guitar master Freddie Bryant (three tracks); and lastly, the alternately elegant and explosive playing of violinist Christian Howes (two tracks).\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"D. D. Jackson","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39492714430624,"sku":"0068944017751","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39492987093152,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/e4d7ec0b-dd2e-4931-90a9-8e34d1d000105103425601431832982-LARGE_346abb08-4642-4d51-9211-9d0f3197ca9f.jpg?v=1615931195"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/collections\/picArtist152.jpg?v=1616076468","url":"https:\/\/justin-time-records.myshopify.com\/collections\/d-d-jackson.oembed","provider":"Justin Time Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}