D.D. Jackson

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]

jazz opera Quebecite in New Brunswick

April 29, 2006  /  D.D. Jackson

Ah to perform again. Just finished a performance of excerpts from my jazz opera "Quebecite" at the Frye International Literary Festival in Moncton, New Brunswick (Canada - for the uninitiated!) We were here at the behest not only of the organizers, but of poet (and my collaborator) George Elliott Clarke, who utilized his considerable weight to ensure that there would be music - not just words - from the work at the Fest. Brought along for the ride was former Screaming Headless Torso veteran Dean Bowman (who had recently returned form a world tour with guitar legend John Scofield), and Yoon Choi, a great (though under-known) jazz vocalist. Together, the two of them essentially played an extrapolated version of my parents in the work, and their characters interact in various ways with two additional characters - one Indian (Laxmi), the other Haitian Creole, the lot of it dreamt up by the fertile imagination of George Elliott Clarke (though based in part on the life story of my own parents). After the concert I managed to squeeze in an interview with Yoon Choi at the airport, which is the "main event" of my latest Living Jazz Podcast #16, available on this site for free. Enjoy!