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Chase Jackson

forward thinking vibraphonist, composer and arranger.

About Me

Currently attending the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in the Jazz Studies Department, Chase Jackson has been performing music since age nine when he began playing vibraphone. Born in Oakland California in 1991, Jackson attended Berkeley High School, an institution notable for turning out jazz greats such as Joshua Redman, Benny Green, Ambrose Akinmusire, Charlie Hunter, and Justin Brown among others. Performing in the large jazz ensemble, lead by Charles Hamilton, in addition to leading numerous student formed combos, Chase began to compose his own music. During this time he was concurrently studying vibraphone with Tommy Kesecker.

While in High School, Chase performed at numerous jazz competitions both local and national, winning outstanding soloist awards in both the big band and combo division. At the 2008 Monterey Next Generation festival, Chase was selected by Terri Lyne Carrington to participate in her Berklee School of Music Summer Jazz Workshop, where he was one of 16 nationally recognized outstanding jazz students who worked personally with her and other Berklee faculty. Later that year he performed at the 51st Monterey Jazz Festival with the 2008 Jazzchool Advanced Jazz Workshop, which won the DownBeat Student music awards for best conglomerate small jazz group. The following year, he played at Monterey again after winning first place in the Combo Division of the 2009 Monterey Next Generation festival. In addition to these honors and accolades, Chase was fortunate to have been able to perform in Japan at the Kurashiki Jazz Festival, and the Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland in addition to other venues in Asia and Europe with the Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble.

Chase now studies jazz composition and performance at Oberlin with Robin Eubanks, Dan Wall respectively and has studied composition with the late Wendell Logan. Chase is additionally pursuing a major in Political Science within the College of Arts and Sciences at Oberlin. In addition to the vibes, Chase also performs on bass, guitar, piano and marimba.