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Brett Jackson

Saxophonist in Kansas City

About Me

Kansas City-based saxophonist and educator Brett Jackson was born and raised in Kansas, having spent most of his formative years in the bustling metropolis of North Newton, KS. Since relocating in 2009, Jackson has been joining the ranks of a Kansas City music scene that is bursting with talent, performing with many of Kansas City’s premier jazz ensembles including The Project H (2014 Pitch Award Winner - Best Jazz Ensemble), Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7, The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, Vine Street Rumble, and Clint Ashlock’s New Jazz Order. At home on all of the saxophones as well as flute and clarinet, Jackson is able to adapt to any musical situation. Performance credits outside the jazz realm include the Kansas City Symphony, the Kansas City Repertory Theater, Coterie Theater and Music Theater Heritage, Katy Guillen and the Girls, the salsa orchestra of Miguel “Mambo” DeLeon, reggae shows and recordings with the Zach Mufasa Band and Josh Heinrichs. Jackson has also been a featured soloist with the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra.

As an educator, Jackson has taught flute, clarinet, saxophone and jazz improvisation to students from elementary school through college, encompassing many different ability levels and learning styles. Currently on the faculty of Kansas City Kansas Community College, Jackson has also served as an adjunct professor at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. Jackson also teaches through UMKC’s Musical Bridges program - an organization providing free instruments and instruction to young people in the Kansas City area, as well as teaching at Meyer Music and his own private students. Jackson holds a degree from Bethel College (North Newton, Kansas) in Music Education and in 2012 completed two master’s degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in Saxophone Performance and Jazz Studies. Those degrees came under the tutelage of Tim Timmons and Bobby Watson, respectively.

Jackson can be heard on “We Live Among The Lines” and “Become Light” from The Project H, 2 vinyl 45 EPs from Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7, and the debut full-length album “Make It Right” by the Zack Mufasa Band which broke into the Billboard Top Ten reggae charts.