Biography

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Jason Jackson was born in San Bernardino, California, and grew up in nearby Yucaipa. He enrolled at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio in 1989, where for one semester his instructor was modern jazz trombone pioneer J.J. Johnson. He received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Oberlin in 1993 before relocating to New York to study privately with Slide Hampton on an NEA grant and to complete a Master's Degree in Jazz and Commercial Music at the Manhattan School of Music, where his trombone instructors included Steve Turre and Jack Gale.

Since settling in New York 31 years ago, Jackson has become one of the city's busiest and most respected trombone players. Not long after his arrival, he spent two years touring the world with Ray Charles. He has since served as lead trombonist in the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band for the past two decades and currently holds that chair in the Roy Hargrove Legacy Band as well. On Mondays, his off-nights from playing in the Ragtime 26-piece orchestra at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center, he has been a member for the past 20 years of the Grammy Award-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at the Village Vanguard. Over the course of his career he has held chairs in 13 Broadway productions, among them many Tony Award-winning shows.

Jackson's broader New York credits include engagements with Ron Carter, Slide Hampton, Charles Tolliver, Jimmy Heath, Illinois Jacquet, Maria Schneider, McCoy Tyner, and the Mingus Big Band. He teaches jazz trombone at The Juilliard School and City College of New York and has conducted clinics in Italy, Japan, and throughout the United States. He also performs regularly with his wife, vocalist Rosena Hill Jackson, whom he met while both were performing in The Color Purple on Broadway.