I am a two-time Emmy Award-winning composer, producer, and Juno Award-winning jazz pianist and educator. As a composer, I specialize in writing, arranging, and producing memorable, custom-made music for t.v., film & other media. I consider myself an "artistic problem solver": I strive to get to the essential conceptual truth of what the client is looking for - and to express it in a creative and supportive way. [READ MORE] or [BIO]

"Freedom" in East Germany

October 28, 1996 / D.D. Jackson

Just returned from Europe, where I performed in several German cities with a Turkish jazz vocalist named Ozay, and a German-based, Hungarian saxophonist named Tony Lakatos. Some interesting music, in general much more introspective than some of the things I've been doing lately. The only exception was a club in Halle, in the former East Germany. We were doing our set as usual, but noticed that each time we got a little more "out" in our playing, the crowd became much more enthusiastic. At the break we realized what was happening: the whole "free jazz" type of expression is historically very popular in east - perhaps it was an expression of the freedom that the people did not experience politically. Of course, once we were told this, we took it as an invitation to play more "wildly", and the crazier we played, the more the crowd loved it - perhaps the only place I've played where this has so clearly been the case...