Father, daughter release albums

D.D. Jackson, who has a couple of Emmy awards hanging around his Maplewood home, has just released an album and so has his 15-year-old daughter.

Sun Jackson, a sophomore at Columbia High School, wrote, sang, plays instruments on and co-produced 10 songs for her first album called “September Fridays.”

“Her album will do much better than mine,” D.D. said proudly.

D.D.’s album is called “Poetry Project” and it’s poems from 11 Canadian poets sent to him by former Canadian Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke that Jackson has set to music.

Both Jacksons had been working on their projects for a while.

“I started working on it in 2020 when I was 11,” Sun said. “I was going through a lot at the time with Covid and friendships. All the songs come from an emotional place.”

Sun at first wrote many songs without her parents even knowing but she ultimately got her busy father to help her and they ended up co-producing, working on it off and on for 4 years.

D.D., who performed with orchestras when he was only 13, has toured the world as a musician playing with David Murray, Billy Bang, Questlove and The Roots. He released 13 CDs before deciding to settle down with family and making a pivot to making music for television shows where he won his Emmys. He has worked on shows including “Sesame Street,” “Peg + Cat” and “The Wonder Pets.”

He has also taught at New York University, Brooklyn College and the Harlem School of the Arts.

The Jacksons have two recording studios in their home, one that D.D. uses and one that Sun uses.

The family rented a cottage this past summer in Canada and they brought components from Sun’s studio so they could get some work done.

“One of the interesting things about her album and mine is they have a lot of the same musicians,” D.D. said.

Both artists used a service called Musiversal, which provides top quality studio musicians who record at their location. D.D. and Sun then mix the tracks they record with the work done by the studio musicians.

“The musicians are from all over the world,” said D.D., who recorded a piece for his album with the Czechoslovakia National Symphony Orchestra. D.D. additionally recorded on keys for “Poetry Project” with live musicians in-person in Toronto.

In addition to recording with those studio musicians, Sun does all the singing, including background vocals, though she lassoed her brother Jarrett for a small background part on one tune, and she also contributes both guitar and ukulele.

Sun wrote all the songs on the album except one co-written with her dad, with D.D. helping with mixing and arrangements and some playing.

“She really earned the co-producer credit,” D.D. said, “knew what she wanted, and had the final say on every song on the album.”

Every song on Sun’s album is inspired by a person, she said.

As a singer, she looked to Billie Eilish as one of her key early songwriting inspirations, proclaiming “her music changed everything for me.”

The album has emotional range and depth, from the fun and lighthearted “Dan” to jazzy, reflective songs like “I Miss Autumn” and “Cotton Candy Clouds,” to the emotionally vulnerable “Alright,” which was written at night on her ukulele when it was raining outside. The title track “The Way She Looked At Me (September Fridays),” is multiple tempo with mood changes.

The music has a lot of strings, violin and cello, plus drums, bass and flugelhorn.

Sun performs in Columbia’s renowned acappella group “Noteworthy” and has been in a band with other students her age. She does a lot of open mic nights and talent shows and feels a calling to perform.

“I was in a band last year,” Sun said. “We played at Beatfest (in Maplewood last April). It’s complicated with student bands.”

With no publicity, she already has more than 2,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and a solid group of supporters on TikTok.

“It’s objectively a good album,” D.D. says of “September Fridays.” “It’s getting positive reviews.”

D.D.’s album is doing fine as well, though he points out that jazz has an inherently smaller audience, while “there’s a much higher ceiling for her.”

“September Friday” is streaming everywhere and can be found at:  https://linktr.ee/sunjacksonmusic

“Poetry Project can be found at: https://linktr.ee/ddjacksonpoetryproject

“Poetry Project” can also be purchased at: https://ddjackson.bandcamp.com with a 32-page full-color booklet with all the poems from the CD and liner notes and photos.

  Columbia, South Orange and Maplewood