Ajayi Jackson
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Social Impact
I'm a native of Oakland, CA and the first musician in my family. I've had the great fortune of growing up amongst some of the giants of the Jazz world such as Max Roach, Buster Williams, and McCoy Tyner to name a few. As a young child I knew I wanted to give my life to music and began my studies on piano at the ripe age of three . After several years of pleading with my mother, the person I credit my musical baptism to, she finally capitulated and gave me my first drum set, which currently sits in my Bay Area recording studio. My12 year old life took an unexpected turn when I attended Berkeley CA's Crowden School of Music with the intention to dive very deep into my Jazz piano studies. It was at this Classical-only institute I was introduced to the bassoon, with which I began my international touring career soon after and eventually completed my BFA as a classical performance major.
Along this journey I naturally infused my jazz roots into my relationship with bassoon while also becoming completely entranced by the traditional drumming and dance of Haiti and West Africa. I've since toured around the world as a multi-disciplined African percussionist, pianist, bassoonist, drummer, and perpetual student of the rich musical and cultural diversity I've had the fortune of crossing paths with. At present, I'm "friends" with around 20 different instruments and nearly as many genres.
From Hop Hop to BeBop and Vivaldi to Vodou, I am a humble servant of music and aim to share my love of it and life with everyone I get to share presence with.