Jackson

Raymond

Concert Pianist 

His playing was a masterful achievment... Varied, capricious, controlled and monumental.                                           .                                              - Tidnengen, Sweden                                              

Authoity, brilliance, and genuine fire were perfectly combined with sensitivity and lyricism.

        -Providence Journal

Uncommonly gifted. His piano recital was both exciting and moving.              

                       -The Washington Post (Washington D.C.)

As a doctoral student at The Juilliard School in New York City, Raymond Jackson entered the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree program with a major in Piano Performance and the credentials of an internationally recognized concert pianist. After completing 3 years of intensive piano study and research, he expanded his performance career as an advocate who would bring public and scholastic attention to those composers of African descent whose works merited performances on the concert stage and study in classrooms and teaching studios.

For over 3 decades Dr. Jackson sought to fulfill this mission throughout the United States and abroad. As both soloist and lecture recitalist he has shown that whether one plays Bach or Ulysses Kay, Haydn or the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Brahms or Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Chopin or Hall Johnson, Clara Schumann or Dorothy Rudd Moore, Debussy or William Grant Still, Barber or George Walker, Copland or Adolphus Hailstork,   compositions of these composers of African descent demonstrate excellence in spirit and craftmanship comparable to works of the European Masters.

Lecturer and Educator 

Dr. Jackson sees good teaching is as much of an art form as good performance. It opens the doors to learning and raises the windows to expanded musical understanding. To Dr. Raymond Jackson, teaching is revealing as one methodically and efficiently works to master over every aspect of composition and technical requirements. He continues to embrace this philosophy after years of  successful teaching.

Having earned multiple music degrees in Piano Performance including a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from The Juilliard School, his natural musical instincts, discerning musical ear, and intuitive, detailed pedagogical observations underscore his ability to teach effectively, solve problems, and inspire his students to perform with security and insight.

As a student at The Juilliard School in New York City, Dr. Jackson received many years of advanced study with 3 of the world's most celebrated concert pianists, great artists whose musical lineages scroll back to the greatest musical icons of all time - Beveridge Webster, Sascha Gorodnitzki and Ania Dorfmann - whose individual musical lineages scroll back through France, Germany, and Russia to Bach and Beethoven.

Raymond Jackson began his professional teaching at the age of 16 in his home studio in Providence, RI. After moving to New York City, he bceame a full-time professor at Concordia College (Bronxville, NY), part-time Piano instructor in the Preparatory Department of the Mannes School of Music (New York City), and summer instructor at the University of Rhode Island. In Washington, DC, he was an Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of America. In 1977, following two highly acclaimed piano recitals at the National Gallery of Art, he was offered a full-time position in the Department of Music at Howard University., where he subsequently taught for nearly four decades.

Lecture Recitals

A Premier Educator

-The Washington Post (Washington D.C.) 

Raymond

Jackson

Concert Pianist 

"Uncommonly

gifted. His piano recital was both exciting and moving."

              - The Washington Post            

"Authority, brilliance,

and genuine fire were

perfectly combined with sensitivity and lyricism."

           - Providence Journal

"His playing brought down the house!"

      - Greensboro Daily News                                            

"Uncommonly

gifted. His piano recital was both exciting and moving."

              - The Washington Post            

"Authority, brilliance,

and genuine fire were

perfectly combined with sensitivity and lyricism."

           - Providence Journal

"His playing brought down the house!"

      - Greensboro Daily News                                            

"Uncommonly

gifted. His piano recital was both exciting and moving."

              - The Washington Post            

"Authority, brilliance,

and genuine fire were

perfectly combined with sensitivity and lyricism."

           - Providence Journal

"His playing brought down the house!"

      - Greensboro Daily News                                            

"Uncommonly

gifted. His piano recital was both exciting and moving."

              - The Washington Post            

"Authority, brilliance,

and genuine fire were

perfectly combined with sensitivity and lyricism."

           - Providence Journal

"His playing brought down the house!"

      - Greensboro Daily News                                            

"Uncommonly

gifted. His piano recital was both exciting and moving."

              - The Washington Post            

"Authority, brilliance,

and genuine fire were

perfectly combined with sensitivity and lyricism."

           - Providence Journal

"His playing brought down the house!"

      - Greensboro Daily News                                            

The cultural heritage of Black composers is musically and culturally rich. Dr. Jackson's Lecture Recitals direct the listener's attention to influences and musical idioms that often reference folk, rag, spirituals, jazz or blues, whether from the cultures of Africa, the West Indies, South America, or the United States. The listener quickly learns to recognize pentatonic and blues melodies, cakewalk and jazz rhythms and response patterns of dancers and rhythmic claps of other participants.

In 2013, Dr. Jackson officially retired from his position as a senior member of the Piano Faculty at Howard University, while remaining in constant demand for his effective and inspiring teaching. At the same time, he continues to display his considerable skills as a coach, lecture recitalist, concerto soloist, and adjudicator.

As an administrator, Dr. Jackson served as Department of Music Chair for three years. His tireless energies and creative program building brought added prestige and visibility to the Department, as well as an increase in Piano Performance Majors. For the University and the community-at-large, he initiated the popular Sundays at Howard Concert Series. Held in the Andrew Rankin Chapel before capacity audiences, this series included the late legendary Metropolitan Opera tenor, Robert McFerrin, whose memorable recital in 1987, accompanied by Dr. Jackson, commemorated the 100th birthday of the magnificent tenor, Roland Hayes. Concurrently, he spearheaded the Howard University Founders Library exhibit that highlighted Hayes extraordinary career. (An archival recording of Negro Spirituals composed and arranged by Hall Johnson was made by McFerrin and Jackson at the University of Missouri, St. Loius.

Celebrating other great historical music figures, Dr. Jackson engaged former Metropolitan Opera star and Howard University Voice Faculty Soprano, Mattiwilda Dobbs whose recital honored legendary contralto Marian Anderson. Other highlights included a concert by the Piano Faculty which celebrated composer Robert Nathaniel Dett and Hazel Harrison - one of the greatest of all African-American female concert pianists and former member of the Howard University Music Faculty. Dr. Jackson was also responsible for chairing the weekly "Thursday Student Recital Series" and establishing the popular "Wednesday's at Noon" Fine Arts Series in the Blackburn University Center Gallery of Art.

"Uncommonly

gifted. His piano recital was both exciting and moving."

              - The Washington Post            

"Authority, brilliance,

and genuine fire were

perfectly combined with sensitivity and lyricism."

           - Providence Journal

"His playing brought down the house!"

      - Greensboro Daily News