January/February 2000

D.D. Jackson
So Far
RCA Victor

By Duck Baker

Jackson is an impressive solo pianist, displaying chops that indicate both classical training and a solid two-handedness that would make a ragtimer proud. Unfortunately the music doesn't hold much interest. Jackson seems to like triads a lot for a modern musician, and his writing is often stickily sweet, but even a harmonically complex piece like "I Mean You" somehow loses a lot of its horizontal tension in Jackson's headlong reading, which sounds like Willie the Lion on speed and acid.