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 the late Spring/21 Canada’s Former Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke asked me to write a song based upon a poem he’d written for his daughter entitled “Self-Composed”. From that point on, he would send me additional poems by some of Canada’s most diverse and talented writers and beyond, until the project had enjoyably expanded to 13 completed songs. Excited to try and document the work, I applied and received a Canada Council grant to produce the recording that you can now find at https://ddjackson.bandcamp.com and on all streaming platforms. It’s the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done and featuring everything from full symphony, to string quartet, 5 Juno-winning performers (including myself, Jane Bunnett, Sammy Jackson, Laila Biali and Kelly Jefferson), Snarky Puppy’s Larnell Lewis, and many more. I really hope you’ll check it out.

 
 
 
 

“FIVE POETS BREAKING INTO SONG” ZOOM SOIREES

Here are the two live “Five Poets Breaking Into Song” events in which the above songs were premiered, interspersed with the various poets reading additional poems and some fun discussion/analysis of all of the above. Be sure to go directly to Youtube and click the “…more info” beneath the videos to get direct links to the various aspects of the program: