MAPLEWOOD, NJ — D.D. Jackson had just gotten off a plane from Los Angeles when he headed to Montclair to perform in the Freedom of Sound festival. It was the night after his second Emmy win earlier this year, and he was getting ready to debut some of his new solo jazz piano compositions. Now, he’s releasing the recording of the concert, his first album since 2007.
“It’s been a while, and I just felt like it was the right time,” the Maplewood-based musician said in a phone interview with the News-Record on Sept. 20. “It went really well, so I figured I would release it.”
Jackson’s career has morphed into something different from when he started out. He studied classical piano in college, and then realized he liked the improvisation and style of jazz more, so he completed a master’s degree in jazz performance. Jackson has toured all over the world and released 13 other albums as the lead or co-lead performer, but after a while decided he didn’t want to be on the road all the time. He started teaching in his home studio and in college classrooms, most recently at Brooklyn College.
Also in the last 12 years since his last album was released, Jackson began writing scores for TV shows and other media, which is where the Emmys come into play. Of the five Jackson has been nominated for, he’s taken two home for his work on the children’s show “Peg + Cat.” He’s also written music for “The Wonder Pets” and a couple of movies.
“I always had this interest in technology, but I set it aside to focus on jazz,” Jackson said. “Then the technology evolved and it became easy to do anywhere. I have all the software on my own computer. It’s been an interesting turn in my career.”
Jackson teaches film scoring at Brooklyn College, and he said students often ask him to compare writing his own music to writing music for others. But he said it’s not as different as one might think.
“I’d like to think they’re really paying you for your taste,” he said. “While you do have to include what they want, they also want you to use your own form of expression. Children’s music is surprisingly more sophisticated than a lot of people think.”
Jackson is able to use his jazz background for the music he writes for TV and movies. He said the song he won the Emmy for this year, “Making a World With My Friend” for “Peg + Cat,” isn’t a typical children’s song.
“One of the reasons child composers are often jazz musicians is because it teaches you an openness,” Jackson said. “It also teaches you a deadline. You always have to think about the next thing that will happen. The sound is rooted in jazz, and it’s fun to introduce that to kids. I very much welcome the challenge of that.”
But music for children is not what Jackson played at Freedom of Sound. Jackson said he played music at the festival in honor of Hamiet Bluiett and Don Pullen, two of his mentors. He even played a piece by Pullen called “Richard’s Tune,” on which Jackson based much of his improvisation. The other five pieces he played at the festival, and which are featured on his album, are Jackson’s original compositions.
Most of these pieces were written in the intervening years since the 2016 election. One is called “Better Angels,” words he took from Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” None of the music has lyrics, but Jackson said listeners will understand.
“A lot was written as a response to the era of Trump and there’s a sense of catharsis there from my frustrations with it,” Jackson, who grew up in Canada, said. “It’s a meditation on that. I tend to be very melodic with the piano so there’s things for people to hang onto. They won’t get lost.”
“Live at Freedom of Sound” was released Sept. 24, and can be purchased at www.ddjackson.bandcamp.com. Information about Jackson’s classes and piano lessons can be found at www.ddjackson.com.
Jackson didn’t know when his album would be released until after it was recorded, and that’s his attitude in all other aspects of his vocation as well.
“My attitude is to be open and see where things take me,” he said. “I’m open to whatever comes my way.”
Photos Courtesy of Francesca Isa and Dave Kaufman
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