D.D. Jackson Premieres His Music Video for “The Father’s Dream”

No matter where you are in your profession, altering one’s career path is always going to come with some anxiety, but we’d say D.D. Jackson is quite happy to have returned to his roots. Having premiered his previous two music videos, we are now premiering his third, the video for “The Father’s Dream.” This is another number off of his Poetry Project album.

A mix of performance clips with some pretty stark sights of the war in Ukraine, the video really leaves an impression. The instrumentation of Jackson’s collaborators mixed with his gripping vocals make this one of his most poignant songs. The lyrics come from poet Libby Scheier as Jackson lends new meaning and purpose to them.

Elaborating on the background of “The Father’s Dream” and its video, Jackson states:

“This piece was based on a deeply personal book of poetry by the late Canadian poet Libby Scheier, in which she tried to better understand her father after enduring his abuse. In it, she meditates on an image she has of her father at war, in ‘Bukavina.’ This reference brought to mind in me ‘Bukovina’ (an actual historical region in the Ukraine). So I decided to center the video on the current struggles of Ukraine against Russia, but also more broadly (especially given the current climate), on the futility of war in general in the world.

“I was also pleased to feature in the string quartet Camille Vogley-Howes, the daughter of my longtime violin collaborator Christian Howes. It’s one of a few such cross-generational collaborations featured on Poetry Project!”

“The Father’s Dream” is actually one of two of Jackson’s singing debuts! “Daedalus’ Lament” also features him on lead vocals with lyrics by poet Giovanna Riccio. Including Jackson, Poetry Project features eight different vocalists. Some of the other vocalists featured are Laila Biali, Sammy Jackson, Yoon Sun Choi, and Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez. Also featured are five JUNO Award winners, the aforementioned Biali and Sammy Jackson, Jackson himself, and saxophonists Kelly Jefferson and Jane Bunnett. This was such an expansive project that involved so many contributions. Behind it all is a string quartet and, on several tracks, the Czech Philharmonic. Jackson even augmented some of the songs with a service called Musiversal, which enabled him to do multiple remote overdubs.

It’s no doubt that for Jackson, Poetry Project stands out as one of the finer moments in a still burgeoning career.

Tour Dates:

12/06 – Redwood Theatre – Toronto, ON (Jackson solo piano concert playing the works of Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and his own compositions, with guest vocalist Yoon Sun Choi)
12/07 – Redwood Theatre – Toronto, ON (Album Release Party)

D.D. Jackson ‘Poetry Project’ album artwork