Inaddition to the two years he spent touring the world with Ray Charles not longafter his arrival, he has been the lead trombonist in the Dizzy GillespieAll-Star Big Band for the past decade and also currently plays that part inorchestras led by Roy Hargrove and Charles Tolliver. And on Mondays, hisoff-nights from playing in the pit bands of such Tony Award-winning Broadwayproductions as The Color Purple, Wonderful Town, Nice Work If You Can Get It,and presently Motown the Musical, he has been a member for the past 10 years ofthe Grammy Award-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at the Village Vanguard. Healso teaches part-time at the Manhattan School of Music, performs about onceper month in a group he co-leads with his wife, vocalist Rosena Hill Jackson,and even finds time to occasionally sit in at jam sessions.

With the release of Inspiration, Jackson finally steps outof the background to present himself as a trombone soloist, arranger, composer,and bandleader of the first order. Recorded over a ten-year period at thelegendary Capitol Studio A in Hollywood and at two studios in New York—butmostly at his and his wife’s Jack&Hill Recording Studio in their SouthOrange, New Jersey, home, with Jackson himself serving as recordingengineer—the CD features Jackson at the helm of full orchestras made up ofrhythm, horn, and string sections.

Among the many world-class musicians heard on the disc aretrumpeters Roy Hargrove and Terell Stafford, trombonist Slide Hampton,clarinetist Evan Christopher, saxophonists Pete Christlieb, Dick Oatts, RichPerry, and Steve Wilson, pianists Roger Jones II and Michael Melvoin, bassistRufus Reid, drummers John Guerin and Dennis Mackrel, and percussionist RogerSquitero. Of the ten selections on the CD, six of the arrangements were writtenby Jackson, one by his friend and former teacher Slide Hampton, one byChristopher, and two by the prolific motion picture composer Eddie Karam.

The remarkably varied program on Inspiration opens with thelively samba- and montuno-driven Jackson composition “Brazilian Bop,” which wasinspired by Jackson’s travels to Brazil with Ray Charles and by the two yearshe spent as one of four trombonists in Dominican salsa singer Raulin Rosendo’sband. Oatts’s alto saxophone solo is followed by one trombone chorus apiece byJackson and Hampton.

Strings join in for Jackson’s straight-ahead “Burnin’,”which sports solos by Jackson, Hargrove, and Jones, who also take turns tradingeights with Mackrel. Jackson says that the piece was inspired by his time onthe road with Hargrove’s big band. “He is always out there playing,” Jackson explains.“It doesn’t matter what country we’re in or what hour it is, if there’s a jamsession going on, he’s gonna go.”

The standards “Spring Is Here” and “Tenderly” showcaseJackson as a supremely lyrical interpreter of ballads in the tradition of suchtrombone predecessors as Tommy Dorsey and Urbie Green, both of whom he creditsas influences, although he cites J.J. Johnson, his onetime instructor at theOberlin Conservatory of Music, as his all-time favorite. Karam arranged “SpringIs Here,” and Hampton arranged “Tenderly.” Sumptuous strings and woodwindscushion Jackson’s horn on both songs.

“Salute to Mandela,” penned by veteran jazz composer DanielJackson and arranged by non-relative Jason, begins with a celebratory fanfarefeaturing trumpets and strings before trumpeter Greg Gisbert plays the melodyand Stafford and Jason solo over a lively 6/8 Afro-Cuban Latin pulse. “I wastrying to get the feeling of a South African safari,” Jason says of hisarrangement.

Jackson begins the lovely “El Huesero” (“The Bull”) using abucket mute, followed by Christopher, the song’s composer and arranger, onclarinet. The two men, friends since their days at Idyllwild Arts Academy inSouthern California, then blend their horns in haunting harmony over the rhythmsection’s relaxed Caribbean zouk underpinning. Pianist Jones, the leader’sfriend since they attended Oberlin together, is also featured.

Jackson, Jones, and Reid solo on “The Spot,” thetrombonist’s swinging salute to jam sessions. “They’re where we hang,” heexplains. “It’s where musicians have sort of a social gathering; otherwisewe’re working all the time. It’s where we go to play and hone our skills and beinspired by each other’s ideas.”

Vernon Duke’s “April in Paris” is given a unique overhaul inJackson’s arrangement for horns, strings, and rhythm section. The 12/8 groove,Jackson’s says, combines Elvin Jones’s polyrhythmic sense of swing with anAfro-Cuban feel, and the melody, instead of beginning on the usual downbeat,starts a beat and a half later. “Coming in on one just didn’t sound right withthe way I switched to minor,” he explains. “It gives the tune a more mysteriousvibe.” Solos are by Perry (on tenor), Jackson, Hargrove, and Squitero (oncongas and bongos).

The swinging “Wake Up Election 2000” for full orchestra,with solos by Wilson (on alto), Jackson, and Stafford, reflects thetrombonist’s feelings about the outcome of the race between George W. Bush andAl Gore. “I didn’t feel like the people in our country were really awake andseeing what was going on,” he says. “If they were awake, it wouldn’t have evencome close enough for him [Bush] to steal the election.”

The album closes with “My Friend Sam,” another swinger forfull orchestra, which was written in memory of Jackson’s best high schoolbuddy, Sam Karam, who died in 2001 from multiple sclerosis. It’s the only songon the CD from the Hollywood session and features a piano intro by Melvoin,kicking drum fills by Guerin, and solos by Christlieb (on tenor) and Jackson.Sam’s dad Eddie wrote the arrangement of Jackson’s composition.

Jason Jackson was born on September 11, 1971, in SanBernardino, California, to an Italian-American mother and an African-Americanfather, both of whom were jazz fans. While growing up in nearby Yucaipa, he pickedup a trombone that belonged to his uncle and blew into it. “They were so amazedthat I got a sound out of it, they gave it to me,” he says of his family.

He played the instrument in the jazz band at YucaipaIntermediate School. “I knew within my first year that this was what I wantedto do,” he remembers. “I wanted to play trombone in space.”

In 1989, after graduating from Idyllwild preparatory school,he enrolled at Oberlin in Ohio, where for one semester his instructor wasmodern jazz trombone pioneer J.J. Johnson. “I couldn’t believe I was sittingnext to my idol,” Jackson recalls. “He was such a force in my life and tromboneplaying for so many years. He was such a humble man. It made me realize thatwe’re all human. He didn’t have an air about himself at all.”

Jackson received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Oberlin in1993 before relocating to New York to study privately with Slide Hampton on anNEA grant and to work on a Master’s Degree in Jazz and Commercial Music at theManhattan School of Music, where his trombone instructors included Steve Turreand Jack Gale.

In addition to the aforementioned work with Charles,Hargrove, Rosendo, Tolliver, the Gillespie band, the Vanguard orchestra, andnumerous Broadway shows, Jackson’s extensive New York credits includeengagements with Ron Carter, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Illinois Jacquet,Maria Schneider, McCoy Tyner, and the Mingus Big Band. He also performs withhis talented wife, whom he met in 2007 when both were working on Broadway inThe Color Purple, about once per month. Jackson recorded an album of originalmusic for sextet titled Going Home in 2001 and contributed to her 2008 album IfYou Believe. His discography also includes recordings with Carter, Heath,Tolliver, and the Gillespie and Vanguard bands. And, in addition to teaching atthe Manhattan School of Music, he has conducted clinics in Italy, Japan, andthroughout the United States.

“I needed to go ahead and go for it, instead of just doingsideman gigs,” he says of his reason for making Inspiration.

With the release of the second CD to appear under his nameand first new one in 13 years, Jason Jackson emerges from the shadows to makehis mark a jazz master whose gifts as a composer and arranger match hisvirtuosity as a trombonist. His inspired combination of horns, strings, andrhythm is quite unlike anything else being recorded these days. Jackson hasdrawn on jazz traditions to create a variety of vibrant and refreshing newsounds that seem certain to place his name among those of the most creativeforces in jazz today. •

Jason Jackson: Inspiration

(Jack & Hill Music)

Street Date: October 14, 2014

Web Site: www.jasonjacksonmusic.com

Media Contact:

Terri Hinte

510-234-8781

hudba@sbcglobal.net