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]

latest activities...

April 15, 2010  /  D.D. Jackson

It's been a busy and hectic year thus far. In addition to my activities as jazz pianist/composer (including being a part-time faculty member at Hunter College, teaching courses in Popular Music and Jazz History), I have been enjoyably making a transition from constant live performance towards a more manageable schedule involving composing for film and t.v. My most recent projects have included writing for the Nickelodeon show "The Wonder Pets" (which recently received it's second Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition), another charming children's show entitled "3rd & Bird" (which will make it's Disney Channel debut in 2011 and has been showing in over 15 markets around the world including Canada and the BBC), and writing and performing the complete underscore for the Sinking Ship Productions children's "reality show" "The Ocean Room" (currently showing in Canada). A composition of mine, "Lushly", was also recently licensed for a fascinating National Film Board of Canada documentary "Professor Norman Cornett", concerning an against-the-grain professor at McGill who was ultimately unceremoniously dismissed, and his unorthodox - but affecting - teaching methods. I am also currently in the process of revamping my website to better reflect my interest in writing for children's television and my other projects (so check back soon).

On the jazz front, I'm looking forward to the upcoming theatrical premiere of my jazz-influenced opera: "Trudeau: Long March/Shining Path" (written with librettist George Elliott Clarke), which will receive a week-long run in Halifax, Canada, this June (produced by Vocalypse Productions). And I recently was called by none other than Bill Cosby to be a member of his "Cos of Good Music" band at the upcoming Playboy Jazz Festival in Hollywood, California (he apparently heard me performing on the radio on James Carter's last CD for Universal and tracked me down).

Finally, I am as always enjoying settling down a bit more as father of 3-year old Jarrett and now 15 month old Aria :-)...