Why Dylan, one might ask? The answer, my friends, is “blowin’ in the groove,” as one reviewer stated; hear the difference a little jazz makes, with Jackson talking about and playing Dylan, along with The Hartt School’s jazz pianist Matt DeChamplain.
Experience how these seemingly disparate musical styles can come together beautifully. In this three-session mini-course, Javon Jackson will use a different lens to help you appreciate the emotional honesty and social awareness of Dylan’s music.
Javon Jackson is professor of jazz and director of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University’s Hartt School. In his career Javon has toured and recorded with artists including Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Charlie Haden, Freddie Hubbard, Joanne Brackeen, Cedar Walton, Donald Byrd, and Curtis Fuller. He has participated in 24 recording projects with still other jazz luminaries, including Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson and Ron Carter. In 2023 he collaborated with African-American poet Nikki Giovanni on a CD and documentary soundtrack, The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni. In 2024 they got together again to record Javon and Nikki Go to the Movies.
Matt DeChamplain is assistant professor of jazz studies at the University’s Hartt School. He has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Berks Jazz Festival, New York’s JVC Jazz Festival, the Berklee Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and has led or been part of groups that opened for Hank Jones, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Michael Wolff, and the Renee Rosnes Quartet. He has also played on Norman Johnson’s album Get It While You Can (2011), Jason Anick’s Tipping Point (2012), and vocal legend Jon Hendricks’s Holiday Wishes II: River of Stars (2013). In 2013 he brought out a solo album, Stride Bop, and in 2015, Matt and his wife, vocalist Atla DeChamplain, released their first collaboration, entitled Pause.
Wednesdays, Oct. 7, 14, 21 | 3 p.m.–4:30 p.m. | Wilde Auditorium/Harry Jack Gray Center | $75
Made possible in part by the generosity of the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Brought to you by the Presidents' College, where we connect the curious through lifelong learning.
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