JAVON JACKSON QUARTET

JAZZ FORUM / MARCH 14-15

Tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, a graduate of Berklee College of Music and currently the artistic director of the Jazz in the Valley festival in upstate New York, was a bona fide Young Lion with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the late ’80s. Blessed with raw-boned and riveting sound, Javon worked with many jazz leaders including pianist Hank Jones, trumpeter Thad Jones and bassist Ron Carter, and he recorded with over fourteen records as a leader. In 2022, Javon released The Gospel According To Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson), a critically acclaimed, spiritually-themed album, with the late poet Nikki Giovanni, and he heads the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Jackson leads a quartet at the Jazz Forum for a solid night of mainstream swing. E.H.