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]

In memory of 9/11: "Final Invocations (Towers of Light)"

September 11, 2011  /  D.D. Jackson

In memory of today’s 9th anniversary of 9/11, here’s a piece I composed entitled “Final Invocation (Towers of Light)” from my 2003 Justin Time Records CD “Suite for New York”. The CD itself was both a celebration of the spirit of New York as well as a meditation on the events of 9/11. Throughout the album were interspersed various “Invocations”, which were personal meditations on that fateful day played by my group’s individual members, and based upon a “rising/falling” melody I sketched for them. The “Final Invocation” presented here is the final track on the CD; a sort of collective improv for full ensemble, with the different sections conducted by myself in response to the emotions being created by the players at the moment.
There are a couple of remarkable solos in the piece – the first by legendary “Night of the Cookers” alto saxophonist James Spaulding; the 2nd by Vancouver-based cellist Peggy Lee, with further “commentary” by myself, trumpeter Brad Turner, and violinist Christian Howes. At the end, there is a feeling of at least some sense of “closure”, evoking (to me) the same sense of spirits ascending to the heavens that the actual “Towers of Light” memorial inspired in me and which compelled me to write this piece in the first place.

Personnel: myself (pianist/composer/conductor); Brad Turner – trumpet; Peggy Lee – cello; David Mott – baritone sax; James Spaulding – alto sax; Christian Howes – violin; Dafnis Prieto – drums, and Ugonna Okegwo – acoustic bass.