Ajayi Jackson

Music Teacher, Grades K-8

Ajayi is a native of Oakland, CA and the first musician in his family. He had the great fortune of growing up amongst some of the giants of the Jazz world such as Max Roach, Buster Williams, and McCoy Tyner to name a few. As a young child he knew he wanted to give his life to music and began his studies on piano at the ripe age of three. After several years of pleading with his mother, she finally capitulated and gave him his first drum set, which currently sits in his Bay Area recording studio. His 12 year old life took an unexpected turn when he attended Berkeley CA's Crowden School of Music with the intention to dive very deep into his Jazz piano studies. It was at this Classical-only institute that he was introduced to the bassoon, with which he began my international touring career soon after and eventually completed his BFA as a classical performance major. Along this journey, he naturally infused his jazz roots into his relationship with bassoon while also becoming completely entranced by the traditional drumming and dance of Haiti and West Africa. He has since toured around the world as a multi-disciplined African percussionist, pianist, bassoonist, drummer, and perpetual student of the rich musical and cultural diversity he has had the fortune of crossing paths with. At present, he is "friends" with around 20 different instruments and nearly as many genres.