About Me
Throughout a career that has taken him from classical studies to jazz clubs, funk bands, smooth jazz sessions and teeny bopper pop tours, Herman Jackson has proven himself a versatile and adaptable musician of the highest order. As a pianist, producer, arranger, musical director and conductor, he is among the busiest, highly respected first-call players in the business.Jackson's astounding resume includes concerts backing Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Babyface, Frankie Beverly, Jessica Simpson and Dave Koz; television performances backing Yolanda Adams on the Grammy Awards, Stevie Wonder at the internationally televised Live 8, Rod Stewart on The Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno, Whitney Houston's Classic Whitney HBO special, Be Be Winans Live and More, Ashford & Simpson on Lou Rawls' Parade of Stars, and the gala TV specials the NAACP Image Awards, BETs Silver Anniversary and VH1s Save the Music. His compositions have been recorded by Norman Connors and Norman Brown, and he has played on CDs ranging from souls Heather Headley and The Temptations, smooth jazz stars Kirk Whalum, Bob James, Norman Brown and Leslie Drayton, to the multi-platinum Speakerboxx/The Love Below album by hip hop duo OutKast. Herman was Musical Director for Nick and Jessicas Tour of Duty television special (shot at Ramstein Air Base in Germany). As Musical Director for the annual Colors of Christmas extravaganza, Herman has conducted the San Francisco Symphony, the Houston Symphony and El Paso Symphony. And, most recently, Herman has been teahouse keyboardist and co-arranger for the top-rated Fox talent search phenomenon, American Idol. Whatever the musical situation calls for, Herman Jackson is up for the challenge.Herman Jackson was born in the famed musical hub of Detroit, Michigan, on April 23, 1965. Both his mother and grandmother played piano - classical and church music - so there was always an instrument in the house. Young Herman was an eager study. At 8, they sent him to lessons for classical training in Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.Through his father, Herman discovered jazz on WJZZ, soon distinguishing favorites such as Nat Cole, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly and Herbie Hancock. Then in 1976, Stevie Wonder's seminal Songs in the Key of Life double album was released, changing 11 year-old Herman's world in a major way. "I would spend hours trying to figure out what he was doing," Herman reminisces, "training my ears." Shortly thereafter, Herman got his first electric piano: a Hohner Pianet.A crossroads was met when Herman's mother enrolled him at the Blue Lake Music Camp in Muskegon, Michigan. She had him sign up for the classical department, but after a campus concert by the Count Basie Orchestra, Herman had his emphasis changed. "Two weeks later, my mother arrives expecting to hear a recital, but I was playing Swing, Ragtime, Bop and Latin."
When Herman was 16, the Blue Lake Jazz Band was invited to play a summer tour through Scandinavia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. When they got to the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Herman met Herbie Hancock, whose band (Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Williams and Ron Carter) they opened for. The late, great Dorothy Donnegan also expanded his jazz knowledge there, sharing advanced melody lines over chord changes with him. "After that," Herman declares, "I knew music is what I wanted to do with my life."While attending Cass Tech High and Interlochen music school, Herman worked a pay gig backing singer Keith Washington at The Rooster Tail, as well as trumpeter Rayce Biggs. The year Herman graduated (1982) was the year that Detroit's Wayne State University started a jazz program. He was the first scholarship Jazz Studies major there. "The teachers were ex-Motown session cats," he beams, "Earl Van Dyke, David Van DePitte and Jack Brokensha." Herman also taught piano at a community center and joined a band, Motor City.After two years at Wayne State, Herman moved to Los Angeles, California, primarily to see if Motor City could make it on the West Coast. But since his parents wouldn't allow it unless he stayed in school, he continued his education at U.C.L.A., later transferring to Cal State Northridge. Meanwhile, Motor City was rockin' Prince covers and funk of the day at Air Force and Army bases around California, and local clubs such as The King's X. Jermaine & Hazel Jackson signed them to a record deal, but when the couple divorced, the group's contract was sold to MCA Records where they got the new name, The Boys Next Door (despite the fact that up-and-coming Tyler Collins was their foxy lead singer). "We recorded two albums," Herman says, "but neither saw the light of day." Herman began contemplating a new path."I was working at (actress) Marla Gibbs' jazz club Memory Lane - 'Blues Night' on Monday, 'Talent Night' on Tuesday, etc. where I met Gladys Knight's drummer, Land Richards. He tipped me off that she needed a keyboard player and introduced me to the Musical Director, Benjamin Wright. At first I couldn't do it because it was in the middle of school, but then Gladys got sick and they pushed the tour back. I finished the spring semester then went on the 'Love Overboard Tour' with Gladys Knight & The Pips."The Gladys gig opened a wide spectrum of behind-the-scenes musical opportunities for Herman. "I did a couple of TV shows with Gladys. The MD liked me and started hiring me. Ben continued to hire me for all of his stuff. I also did sessions on the publishing side for Motown songwriters." Reasoning why he began to get so much work, Herman muses, "My whole thinking was that the top L.A. guys could play all styles and read music, but that was not the case. The fact that I had been prepared to do all of that served me really well. There are few situations I'm called for that I don't feel confident going into."
That confidence came in handy in 1993 when he found himself auditioning for the man that rocked his world as a kid, the incomparable Stevie Wonder. "I don't think the audition started until 2 in the morning," Herman recalls with a knowing chuckle. "There were 7 of us and Steve had 3 pianos set up. Someone would pick out a song and we'd play 3-at-a-time - one person playing a bass line, another did chords while the other soloed. Then we'd switch. After a couple of hours, they told me I had the gig." This led to Herman accompanying Stevie's orchestra on his Natural Wonder tour/documentary/double-CD and countless high-profile performances since.Now between working with artists ranging from smooth jazz king Paul Brown to Broadway sensation turned R&B star Heather Headley, Herman is focused on perfecting what will be his debut album, Magic Touch. "For years I've wanted to get my own music out there," Herman confesses, "but on my own terms. I think doing a record like Quincy Jones would be my strong point - putting people together as opposed to focusing so much on myself as a player."Magic Touch showcases several of Herman's longtime associates such as Rayford Griffin, Norman Brown, Paul Jackson, Jr., Ricky Minor, Lynne Fiddemont and more. Consisting of eleven original compositions, including the lovely "Night Song" and James Ingram singing "I Just Want to Know," it is available on his Website. Closest to his heart is "Jalil's Song," which he composed for his son. That number was first used in the thriller "Kept" (starring Ice-T), a film that Herman scored, plunging him into yet another world of exciting new musical challenges.
The high-end sound fidelity of Magic Touch recording inspired Clarion Audio to tap Herman as a spokesman for their products, placing four of his songs on their CD sampler and using his music in all of its advertising.With each year bringing new experiences, new collaborators and increasingly more savory challenges, Herman Jackson has arrived as one truly ubiquitous renaissance man of music.A. Scott Galloway
(March 2006)
