Siskiyou Music Project welcomes for his first southern Oregon appearance, 7-string guitarist Ron Jackson featuring drummer Sylivia Cuenca and bassist Essiet Essiet. This performance will take place on Sunday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m. at Grizzly Peak Winery in Ashland.
Versatile and sophisticated jazz guitarist Ron Jackson has performed, recorded and taught music in over 30 countries. With a varied career as a performer, composer and arranger, Highlights include shows and tours with artists such as Taj Mahal, Jimmy McGriff, Larry Coryell, Benny Golson, Oliver Lake, Russell Malone and Mulgrew Miller. Ron has been featured as a leader in jazz festivals all over the world, including the North Sea Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Jazz Festivals and Winter Jazzfest, NYC.
Born in the Philippines, lived in many states as a kid, then settled in Harvard, Massachusetts, west of Boston, Ron was initially influenced by rock guitar greats like Jimmy Page, before falling under the spell of jazz and following the style and career of jazz guitar luminaries like Pat Metheny and George Benson. After attending Berklee School of Music on scholarship, studying jazz composition and arranging, Ron spent two formative years in the mid-1980’s living and playing guitar with the lively expat jazz community in Paris, France. Ron moved to New York City where he remains an active participant in Gotham’s always vibrant jazz scene. A master of the six, seven and twelve string guitars, Ron appeared on over 40 albums by such artists as Hal Singer, Graeme Norris, Ron Blake, Gisele Jackson and T.K. Blue, before founding the independent record label Roni Music in 2003 which has since released some of his eight of his albums as a leader including The Dream I Had (2003), Flubby Dubby (2008) and Akustik InventYours (2014). His latest project, Jazz Standards and Other Songs (2019) is an alluring mix of familiar jazz numbers and innovative adaptations of songs from other genres like his trendsetting arrangement for jazz trio Drake’s “Passion Fruit.”
Ron was grateful to be selected as the winner of the 1996 Heritage International Jazz Guitar Competition. He has also been a recipient of the 2012 Donald Knutson Memorial Development Fund and the 1991 and 2000 Meet the Composer Performance Fund. He endorses Eastman Guitars, Kremona Guitars, Aria Classical Guitars, Paul Reed Smith Guitars and Godin Guitars.
An acclaimed music educator, Ron currently teaches guitar at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The New School, Midori and Friends, and is the founder and director of the website ronjacksonmusic.com. Ron has held master classes, concerts and workshops at Jazz at Lincoln Center-Jazz in the Schools, The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Escuela Creativa Musica in Madrid, Spain and California State University.
Sylvia Cuenca is an active drummer on the New York and SF Bay Area jazz scenes who is contributing outstanding performances in a variety of situations. She has had the honor of sharing the bandstand with saxophone legend Joe Henderson for 4 years and trumpet legend Clark Terry for 17 years. The Joe Henderson quartet toured frequently in European countries Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, England, Switzerland, France, Italy and Germany and venues across the U.S. In a trio setting she performed with Joe Henderson and Charlie Haden in 1989 and with George Mraz in 1994. She performed with the Clark Terry Quintet and Big Band at Village Vanguard, Birdland, Blue Note, Queen Elizabeth 2, Royal Viking, S.S. Norway jazz cruises and clubs, concerts and festivals in the U.S, Europe, the Caribbean and South America. While working with the Clark Terry quintet she had the opportunity to perform with guest artists Al Grey, Red Holloway, Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Marian McPartland, Dianne Reeves, Joe Williams and Lou Donaldson to name a few. To learn more about Sylvia visit her website here.
Essiet Okon Essiet first received critical acclaim more than a decade ago as a member of saxophonist Bobby Watson’s post hard bop group Horizon He has long since established himself as one of New York’s premier bassist. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, his parents having moved there from Nigeria, West Africa, the family later moved to Wisconsin where Essiet began his musical studies at age 10 on the violin. Four years, later he switched to the bass. As a child, and into his teens, his family moved often. His father worked for the US, as well as the Nigerian government, and his job took the family to many places including Europe, Africa and various cities in the US. His family finally settled in Portland, Oregon where he began studying jazz at the age of 14. Having traveled widely as a youngster with his family, he had an easy time adjusting to life on the road once he turned professional. More importantly, his early exposure to many cultures, languages, folkways and religions, fostered his world view of strength through diversity. “Some musicians are purist” says Essiet, “but I like to mix styles. I like many different types of cultures”. To learn more about Essiet visit his website here.
