We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jackson A. Waters a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jackson thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
This Spring, I am sharing my most ambitious project yet: my debut concert filmed and recorded as a live album recording. Consisting of a filmed performance by me and my string quartet that not only showcases my musical compositions from the past few years but also promotes artistic collaboration amongst different genres. Most concerts have a natural barrier that separates the audience from the music. My goal with this series is to remove this barrier. I want the audience to sit around the music and be engulfed by sound in a home-like environment. This intimate experience will provide a relaxing night of connection, love, and closeness between the audience and the music. The recording and filmed concert will be released on all music streaming platforms and Youtube as a live album, titled: The Live Room Presents: Jackson A. Waters – Live Album Recording. The concert will be hosted in Brooklyn, NYC on April 21 at 8pm. You can get tickets with the Eventbrite link on the bottom of this article. Tickets are donation based ($25 recommended), anyone who donates above $50 will be put in a raffle to have their name be turned into a song in concert with my Note-Name Algorithm. If you are unable to attend but would still like to donate, the same Eventbrite has a separate donation option.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jackson A. Waters. I am an award-winning concert and multimedia composer acclaimed as the next “Rising Star” by VoyageLA Magazine. At the age of 16, I became the youngest composer-in-residence at the 2018 Oregon Bach Festival. Shortly after, the Areté Vocal Ensemble commissioned me to compose a choral work in memory of the lives affected and lost during the 2018 Woolsey Fire in Southern California. In 2019, while serving as the principal trumpet at The Colburn School, the Colburn Youth Orchestra recorded my inaugural orchestral piece—a rhapsody about the Tulsa Race Massacre—conducted by myself. By the time I enrolled at New York University, I had garnered commissions and performance opportunities from conservatories, professional ensembles, and dance companies.
My musical works focus on revitalizing Black American history and culture, aiming to bring to light untold stories and address racial injustices. I expanded my 2019 rhapsody into a six-movement programmatic symphony titled ‘Defending Greenwood,’ based on the Tulsa Race Massacre. Described as a work of “expert orchestration” and a “tour de force” by composer Daniel Ott, segments of my symphony have been performed by The Colburn School, won first place in the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra’s Emerging Composers Competition, secured a finalist position in the American Composer’s Orchestra Earshot Competition at the age of 21, and earned me a composer residency with the NYU Orchestra for the symphony’s premiere in concert. For my other recent works, I have collaborated with professional musicians such as cellist Jacques Wood and ensembles like the Rhythm Method.
During my residency in Prague, I was mentored by composer Beata Hlavenkova and had the opportunity to record in beautiful venues like the 13th-century St. Nicholas Church. As a dedicated listener of jazz and hip-hop, I explore pushing the boundaries of concert music by incorporating sampling into the genre. Using an African folk recording featuring two Chewa women singing a marriage song titled ‘Mangondo Azipita,’ I composed ‘Mangondo Postlude,’ a string trio and piano piece blending the field recording with my composition, performed and recorded by the Czech string group, S.V.A Trio. Mangondo Postlude can be heard wherever you listen to music.
I have earned positions as one of the trumpet players in the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra and as the assistant conductor of the NYU Broadway Orchestra under the direction of Theodore Sperling, conducting works from Street Scene, Sweeney Todd, and Jesus Christ SuperStar.
Recently, I just finished a new song collaborating with singer-songwriter MARI and the Prague-based S.V.A Trio. In a genre-breaking style of music, the song is about Janus, the Roman two-faced God, who has taken hold of the protagonist’s partner. The partner, once someone who brought love and joy, has now turned into someone unrecognizable—malicious and aggressive, finding every insecurity and using it against the protagonist during every argument. In the aftermath, however, the partner turns back into the love that the protagonist originally fell in love with. This confusing battle continues throughout the toxic relationship. In a turn of events, instead of leaving, the protagonist is drowning in their partner’s love and will submit to them always. This story underscores the difficulties of leaving a toxic relationship, the power a partner can truly possess, and how delicious their love tastes, all reflected in the music. ‘Janus’ is by far my most daring composition as it does not line up with any specific genre. It combines my artistry as a concert composer, with my love for jazz, and MARI’s singer-songwriter skills. ‘Janus’ comes out February 23 on all streaming platforms. To be the first ones to listen, you can pre-save the song with the link on the bottom of this article.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Coming from an orchestral and jazz background, where music was created with an ensemble and with people, the most rewarding aspect of being a composer is hearing your music performed live. Being a composer can be a lonely career path, spending hours by yourself for days, months, and even years working on a piece or project. A piece of music is only notes on a page until someone plays it. So, when you finally have the opportunity to work with an ensemble that will play your work live, or hear your score on the big screen, watching an ensemble work together to bring your music to life is a rush that can never be replicated.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
As someone who strives to grow every day, I have many goals that I want to achieve. Since I started composing music, my goal has been to help capture human emotion. Over time, my voice has slowly evolved towards exploring and sharing African musical heritage and history that was once lost. After writing my award-winning symphony, my voice as a composer developed into creating music that provokes introspection and peace. Now, as an artist graduating from school, my current goal is to do whatever I can to earn a decent wage as an artist to support myself.
Although it may seem like a seemingly vain and ‘anti-artist’ mindset, living in America has never been more financially challenging, especially as an artist. Even famous performers who have collaborated with the powerhouses of the music industry struggle to secure gigs when venues now pay half of what they used to in the 80s, if not less. Singers and bands starting out in New York sometimes have to pay the venue to play a concert. Being an artist has never been easier to start, but it has never been harder to succeed in this generation. Without a substantial income from being an artist, I fear that I may have to explore non-musical career choices to make a living. I worry that if I choose an alternative job, I will not have the time or space to be an artist ever again.
Right now, along with my goals to evoke introspection, emotion, and connection with my music, my current objective is to do whatever I can to survive as a composer and musician.
Contact Info:
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Website: https://www.
jacksonawaters.com/
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Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/jacksonawaters/
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Pre-Save ‘Janus (feat. MARI)’: https://ffm.to/janus-
feat-mari -
iTunes/Apple Music: https://music.apple.
com/us/artist/jackson-a- waters/1684552524