Ali Jackson (jazz drummer)

Last updated

Ali Jackson Jr.
RK1912 MG 1532 Ali Jackson.jpg
Ali Jackson, 2019
Background information
Born (1976-04-03) April 3, 1976 (age 47)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
GenresJazz, Ancestral, Afro-Cuban
Occupation(s)Musician, Composer, Arranger, Educator
Instrument(s)Drums, classical percussion, piano
LabelsBigWenzee
Website alidrums.com

Ali Jackson Jr. (born April 3, 1976) is an American drummer, musician, composer, arranger, educator, and percussionist. Son of Ali Jackson. Jackson started playing drums at the age of 2.

Contents

Jackson's natural ability and passion for music bloomed and by the age of 11 his aptitude flourished as a result of a steady stream of lessons and mentoring from an all-star lineup of music legends, including Max Roach, Milt Hinton, Dr. Donald Byrd, Betty Carter, Aretha Franklin and James Mtume. During one lesson when he was 12, Ali met Wynton Marsalis and impressed the trumpet virtuoso and future collaborator with his maturity and his advanced knowledge of the piano and music theory — skills rare among drummers.

Jackson graduated as a music major with high honors from Detroit’s prestigious Cass Technical High School, a program with a rich legacy of consistently producing the country’s top musicians.

As a student at the New School University for Contemporary Music in New York City, he was privileged to study with Max Roach and Elvin Jones. He attended college on a full academic scholarship, earning an undergraduate degree in music composition. In 1994, Jackson was selected as the guest soloist for the Beacons of Jazz program honoring legendary jazz drummer Max Roach. The Thelonious Monk Institute and Jazz Aspen selected him to participate in the first annual Jazz Aspen for gifted and talented musicians. Jackson was also the first recipient of the state of Michigan’s prestigious Artserv Emerging Artist award in 1998, a program with a rich legacy of consistently producing the country’s top musicians.

Jackson is from Detroit. [1] A reviewer for The New York Times in 2009 wrote that "Jackson generates a subtle but irresistible force when he plays, making even the smallest gestures advance his agenda of locomotion." [1]

Personal

Ali is the father of professional soccer player Aziel Jackson. [2]

Discography

As leader or co-leader

As sideman

With Buster Williams

With Craig Handy

With Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra

With Wynton Marsalis

With Joshua Redman

With Kurt Rosenwinkel

With others

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wynton Marsalis</span> American jazz musician (born 1961)

Wynton Learson Marsalis is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards, and his oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Marsalis is the only musician to have won a Grammy Award in both jazz and classical categories in the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassandra Wilson</span> American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer

Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating blues, country, and folk music into her work. She has won numerous awards, including two Grammys, and was named "America's Best Singer" by Time magazine in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazz at Lincoln Center</span> American nonprofit organization

Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center in New York City. The organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center in October 2004. Wynton Marsalis is the artistic director and the leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Marsalis</span> American drummer

Jason Marsalis is an American jazz drummer, vibraphone player, composer, producer, band leader, and member of the Marsalis family of musicians. He is the youngest son of Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis and the late Ellis Marsalis, Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Carter (musician)</span> American jazz musician

James Carter is an American jazz musician widely recognized for his technical virtuosity on saxophones and a variety of woodwinds. He is the cousin of noted jazz violinist Regina Carter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monterey Jazz Festival</span> Annual music festival in California

The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz disc jockey Jimmy Lyons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herlin Riley</span> American drummer

Herlin Riley is an American jazz drummer and a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Chestnut</span> American jazz pianist and composer

Cyrus Chestnut is an American jazz pianist, composer and producer. In 2006, Josh Tyrangiel, music critic for Time, wrote: "What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon notes and play space."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Goldberg</span> American jazz pianist

Aaron Goldberg, is an American jazz pianist. Described by The New York Times as a "post-bop pianist of exemplary taste and range," Goldberg has released five albums as a solo artist and has performed and collaborated with Joshua Redman, Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Guillermo Klein, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neo-bop</span>

Neo-bop refers to a style of jazz that gained popularity in the 1980s among musicians who found greater aesthetic affinity for acoustically based, swinging, melodic forms of jazz than for free jazz and jazz fusion that had gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s. Neo-bop is distinct from previous bop music due to the influence of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who popularized the genre as an artistic and academic endeavor opposed to the countercultural developments of the beat generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Goines</span> American jazz musician

Victor Louis Goines is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who has served as president and chief executive officer of Jazz St. Louis since September 2022. From 2000 to 2007, he was director of the jazz program at Juilliard.

<i>Two Men with the Blues</i> 2008 live album by Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis

Two Men with the Blues is a live album by Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis. It was released on July 8, 2008 by Blue Note and sold 22,000 copies in it first week of release. It was recorded on January 12–13, 2007, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Bowler</span> American jazz musician

Phillip Charles Bowler is an American jazz double-bassist and radio host.

Carlos McKinney, known professionally as Los Da Mystro, is an American record producer and jazz pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Hurst (musician)</span> American jazz bassist

Robert Hurst is an American jazz bassist.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is an American big band and jazz orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis. The Orchestra is part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a performing arts organization in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omer Avital</span> Musical artist

Omer Avital is an Israeli-American jazz bassist, composer and bandleader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ugonna Okegwo</span> German-Nigerian jazz bassist and composer

Ugonna Okegwo is a German-Nigerian jazz bassist and composer based in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Stewart (saxophonist)</span> American saxophonist

Robert Darrin Stewart is an American saxophonist. He recorded several albums under his own name during the period 1994–2006. He has also recorded as a sideman, including on trumpeter Wynton Marsalis' Blood on the Fields. Stewart went on multiple national and world tours during his 30-year career as a performer, both under his own name and with the Marsalis band.

<i>Alive</i> (Jacky Terrasson album) 1998 live album by Jacky Terrasson

Alive is a live album by French jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson recorded on 14 June 1997 in the Iridium Jazz Club and released on 5 May 1998 by Blue Note label.

References

  1. 1 2 Chinen, Nate (August 19, 2009). "Bops, Hums and Pings, Turned into Jazz". The New York Times . Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  2. "When it comes to music, soccer or life, Loons teenager is beyond his years". Star Tribune.
  3. 1 2 "Recordings | Ali Jackson". alidrums.com. Archived from the original on May 28, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2018.