Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Jaxx.
Hi Will, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My relationship with Music started at a very tender age. My father was an avid Music lover and critic. As a toddler, I was immersed in a beautiful soundscape that was created by a diverse array of Soul and Jazz influences. Luminaries from Al Green to Earth, Wind, and Fire, Tom Browne, Oscar Peterson, and the Modern Jazz Quartet were heard daily in my home. This really grounded my ear and helped lay a foundation that I later built upon in defining my personal musical persona. As a kid, I also grew up listening to the music of my 2nd Cousin, Cheryl (Jacks) Mason, who–at the time–was a member of the famous Disco group, The Richie Family. I can remember the whole family anxiously gathering around our floor-model TV in the living room to watch my cousin and the other “1st Ladies of Disco” perform on Soul Train. It was truly a great highlight in my childhood.
When I made it to the 6th Grade, I decided that I wanted to play a musical instrument, and because all of the trumpet spots were taken, my Band Director suggested that I play the slide trombone. After a rough first year, my musical ability really began to start asserting itself, and by age 12, my love of the trombone was firmly set.
During my high school years, I was drawn to Classical Music, oddly enough, and was blessed to study privately with several masters of the instrument, including: Mark McConnell, Principal Trombonist of the Atlanta Opera, Stephen Wilson, Associate Principal of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Dr. Marvin Pryor–also my H.S. Band Director–who played with the Ohio Players and had just come off the road touring with Cameo. This trifecta helped me develop my technical approach in getting around on the instrument, my arranging skills, and what a lot of people describe as a really well-developed tone, which is my trademark. I really wouldn’t be the Artist I am today if it were not for these fine gentlemen, particularly Dr. Pryor.
The summer after I graduated high school, I was commissioned as Composer & Feature Soloist for the World Premiere of “Beyond the Canebreaks: Moments in the Life of Harriet Tubman”. This piece was composed by The Harry Bryce African American Dance Theatre out of in Atlanta. Mr. Bryce was a former student of Alvin Ailey who had relocated to Atlanta and started his own theater company. The commission I received from him really allowed me to stretch out creatively, blending and expanding my appreciation of Avante Garde Music, as well as Modern Dance and the Fine Arts. I toured briefly with the Theatre as their Guest Soloist before accepting a full Music scholarship to the University of Georgia, where I studied Music Performance under the legendary Dr. Philip Jameson within the Franklin College of Music. After a year of intensely studying orchestral chamber music repertoire and holding chairs with the UGA & Athens Symphony Orchestras, I decided to press pause on my formal training in order to try and make inroads into the Music Industry.
I spent about a decade afterward cutting my teeth in Musical Theater, performing as a theater musician for a number of off-Broadway plays. I also spent a number of years playing behind Music icons such Allen Toussaint, Ivan Neville, James Ingram, Angie Stone, and P.J. Morton. Then in 2014, after getting sufficiently full off of playing through the creative ideas of others, I finally matured to the point that I felt that I had something significant and worthwhile to say in my own right. And it was then that I decided to step into the limelight and express my own creative vision with my debut album, DICHOTOMY.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No. My personal journey has been filled with potholes and bumps all along the way. As a child, I grew up in a house filled with domestic violence, and as a youngster, I was privy to unspeakable horrors which deeply scarred me. Staying in shelters. Hiding in different parts of the city from my dad. Constantly having to remain alert just in case we all had to flee. So many things. It was an emotional rollercoaster. My mom eventually did leave my dad and years later married another man who, after years of living in peace, would break this cycle when he got hooked on drugs and later shot my mother at point blank range with my younger brother and I present in my grandmother’s apartment. I was 16 years old at the time, and we all survived, but we had left one tumultuous situation only to be greeted with another. We all had become victims of a violent crime and were simply shell-shocked for a time. And though my traumas have mostly healed, the emotional scars still persist and surface every now and again as a witness to the tragedies of my past. The one positive that I take from all this pain, though, is that it informs the music. For the artist, every loneliness, every heartbreak, every temptation, and every triumph informs our music. And it’s probably why folks gravitate to what we create–because they hear their own life stories nestled within the notes we create.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My debut album, Dichotomy, is a panoramic, full-length exposition, where soulful vocals on trombone are paired with superb live musicianship, decadent vocals, and artful studio cuts to produce silky tracks that retain an urban sensibility. When initially released in 2014, the album drew critical acclaim in Europe, Africa, and Australia and was hailed by many as a creative milestone for modern trombone recordings. Later that year, I would win an AHME Award for Hottest Jazz Musician and earn the monicker “The Dope Trombone Boi”.
Two years later, I experienced a full-circle moment when I auditioned for and won the Principal Chair Trombone seat with Orchestra Noir—the nation’s premier, all-Black symphony orchestra. With the ensemble, I continue to travel the country showcasing my love of Classical Music, as well as remain a first call for some of Music’s most iconic names (Migos, Cardi B, 2Chainz, Rick Ro$$, Rod Wave, Khujo Goodie, Russell Gunn, Marsha Ambrosius, Big KRIT, Mike-WILL Made It, etc). I maintain a full recording schedule for Music, TV, and Film. Two of my proudest moments include being a member of the Cast in Eddie Murphy’s blockbuster sequel “Coming 2 America” and also receiving a music sync placement in an episode of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s critically acclaimed TV drama, “For Life”.
More recently, I have contributed to new music and cinematic offerings from legendary Hip-Hop group Goodie Mob (i.e., ‘4 My Ppl’) and Lumberjack & Dungeon Family member Khujo Goodie (‘Bills’). In terms of original music, I am currently hard at work in the lab with my Producer, Rico Elite, cooking up recipes for my sophomore release.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I am also the Founder & Curator of The Southernplayalistics Brass Band, which mixes Hip-Hop, R&B, and Soul to bring listeners a quintessentially ATL sound! We regularly perform classic tunes by artists specifically from Atlanta and/or the Deep South.
Contact Info:
- Website: willjaxx.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/willjaxx
- Facebook: facebook.com/willjaxxonthetrombone
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/will-jaxx-09b6978/
- Twitter: twitter.com/willjaxx
- Youtube: youtube.com/@metrohorns
- SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/willjaxx
- Other: linktr.ee/willjaxx
