We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jorion Dawson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jorion , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I remember I was 13 years old and I still had my goals set for being an engineer. However, I still played saxophone and really liked jazz. Jazz had always been a big part of my family. We would always listen to smooth jazz on the San Antonio radio 101.9 on Sunday mornings. I don’t remember the exact date, but the radio station decided to have a smooth jazz festival at The Mall of the Americas. The night we went, I remember that I had a really rough day and I had been dealing with personal issues that I couldn’t seem to get through. We get to the concert and every artist there blew me away. Each one had a different voice, but you could feel the emotion leave their instruments as they played. That concert not only made me forget about the day I had and the issues I had been dealing with, but inspired me to love music the way I do and become the musician I am today. Now I play music with the intent to bring joy and inspire others the way it did for me.

Jorion , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Jorion Dawson. I am a saxophonist and vocoder player that focuses mostly on Jazz, R&B and Hip-Hop. I play alongside various artists around Texas as well as hosting my own shows under my name or my band 8VA. I think what sets me apart from others is my use of effects on acoustic instruments such as my saxophone and my voice. The sound is heavily inspired by artists such as Herbie Hancock, Terrace Martin and Casey Benjamin. I had been looking for a new way to widen my range of texture in music. Hearing them go the electronic route really grabbed my attention so I decided to look more into it and fell in love with the things I could create. So I began using their ideas to create my own unique sounds and texture. I’m now using these sounds to write original music that will be releasing soon as well as writing, producing and being featured on other artists’ projects.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I have always had a hard time putting what I feel into words or if there is an emotion I’m experiencing, I find it hard to express in most cases. I feel being an artist of any form allows you to do just that, but create an outlet as well. Telling your story that, in turn, creates an outlet for those who do not create but feel the same way as you did. Art has always been a beautiful language that everyone can understand and use to communicate with each other. Any form of art can make you feel an emotion, hear a story or understand what is going on around the world without even using words. I have even been able to find and unlock new things about myself that I never knew existed through creating and playing music. That versatility is what makes art so beautiful and what makes being an artist/creator so rewarding to me.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I wish people were more willing to share and/or support their artist friends. I don’t necessarily understand the stigma behind it. Maybe it doesn’t seem cool enough or maybe they don’t believe fully in their friend’s cause. But, sharing is how we as artists get our product (music, paintings etc.) out to the world or even to the city we are in. The same goes with “friendly discounts”. I used to be guilty of this aspect where you feel as though you somewhat deserve a discount because they are your friend or family member. In reality, it should be the opposite. Because they’re your friend or family member, you should be willing to pay full price for their product to give them the full support they need. I feel people support, share and spend money on big named artists who are already succeeding more than they do their friends and family who are trying to do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/jdmusic25
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jd_music25/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063766950321
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jd_music25
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@JDMusic1925

Image Credits
Lyza Renee Janine Kamei Dee Dawson Andrew Lee Steven Blaine Leggett