| Jazz |
This ambitious and highly successful project is the work of Canadian jazz pianist/ composer/ producer D.D. Jackson, based in the New York area and a recipient of several Juno and Emmy Awards. From a young age, the prodigious Jackson was already playing with orchestras at the age of 13, followed by rigorous classical music training at Indiana University, before turning to jazz and New York—first at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music for his master’s (as a student of the legendary jazz pianist Jaki Byard), and later as a student of the great Don Pullen (both of whom were former members of the historic Charles Mingus groups). Pullen then introduced him to a line of jazz legends with whom he would play, record, and tour worldwide, from David Murray (with whom Jackson was “discovered” at his debut at the Montreal Jazz Festival) to Billy Bang, and later even Questlove and The Roots.
It’s worth noting that Laila Biali, who opens this album, is far better here than on her personal albums, with a remarkable composition, “Mavety Street.” To fully grasp this album, one must know several things about this composer, who already has 13 albums to his credit as an author or co-author and a career rewarded with several Emmys for television composition (including for renowned children’s shows such as *The Wonder Pets*, *Peg + Cat*, and *Sesame Street*), while also receiving praise as an award-winning teacher at institutions like Brooklyn College, the Harlem School of the Arts, and NYU.
Regarding this project specifically, it traces back to his jazz performance and composition roots in 2021 during the pandemic lockdowns, when former Canadian Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke (with whom Jackson had previously composed two jazz-influenced operas) commissioned Jackson to write a song (“Self-Composed”) based on a poem Clarke had written for his daughter. George would later send him a collection of 13 poems chosen from a diverse group of Canadian poets, from which Jackson would select the ideal poem for each song to set to music. The response to this collection of songs was so enthusiastic that Jackson was encouraged to apply for—and ultimately received—a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to record what is now known as *The Poetry Project*.
Indeed, this album proposed by D.D. Jackson oscillates between jazz and opera, aided by diverse and varied vocal personalities: Laila Biali (track 1), Sammy Jackson (tracks 2, 9), Yoon Sun Choi (tracks 3, 10), Ethan Cronin (track 4), John Lindsay-Botten (tracks 5, 8), D.D. Jackson (tracks 6, 13), Dean Bowman (tracks 7, 12), Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez (track 11), and a team of equally talented musicians: D.D. Jackson – Bösendorfer piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and organ; Larnell Lewis – drums (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12); George Koller – acoustic bass (tracks 1, 3, 9, 10); Rich Brown – electric bass (tracks 2, 4, 7, 12); Tom Fleming – guitars (tracks 2, 7, 12); Jane Bunnett – soprano saxophone (track 1); Kelly Jefferson – tenor saxophone (track 7); Curtis Stewart – violin (track 10); String Quartet (track 6) with Camille Vogley-Howes – 1st violin, Lana Auerbach – 2nd violin, Kayla Williams – viola, and Raffi Boden – cello; and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (track 13). With such high-quality texts, it’s clear that this ensemble was highly inspired.
Lyrics are contributed by Canadian poets Bruce Meyer (track 1), Giovanna Riccio (tracks 2, 13), Micheline Maylor (track 3), Luciano Iacobelli (track 4), Irving Layton (track 5), Libby Scheier (track 6), George Elliott Clarke (tracks 7, 8), Ayesha Chatterjee (track 9), Choucri Paul Zemokhol (track 11), Al Moritz (track 12), and Chinese poet Yin Xiaoyuan (track 10).
Certainly, one might be disoriented by this mix of genres, but that very mix of diverse artists is the common thread, and the variety of texts is also a central point. Almost everything in this work is experimental. I found myself deeply impressed by Youn Sun Choi, whom I didn’t know before, and who is absolutely remarkable on two pieces. This is a stunningly beautiful and effective “patchwork” album, an essentia curiosity that we wholeheartedly recommend!
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, September 10th 2024
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