Jackson Crawford

Jackson C. Crawford received his first saxophone lessons aged eleven, and took a Bachelor’s degree at Florida A&M University. Further studies took him to the Université de Paris and the Conservatori di Musica di Roma, St. Cecilia (Italy). He has worked with numerous symphony orchestras throughout Europe and America, such as the Kölner Rundfunkorchester, the Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn, and the Philharmonica Hungarica; Crawford has likewise performed with leading organists, such as Clemens Ganz, Wolfgang Seifen, and Wolfgang Bretschneider, appearing at the cathedrals in Cologne, Fulda, Paderborn, and Gothenburg, as well as at basilicas in Bonn and Kevelaer. He has also given concerts at churches in the Swiss Engadin region, at Boston (Massachusetts/USA), and at the Gasteig in Munich. The saxophonist has made guest appearances at numerous festivals: for example at the World Saxophone Congress 1982 at Nuremberg, the Festival Mondial du Saxophone in Belgium, the Wuppertaler Orgeltage, and the first International Festival of Contemporary Music in Izmir (Turkey) in 2003. The Ecuadorian composer Eduardo Flores Abad wrote his works ‘In B’, scored for alto saxophone and 12 solo strings (1994), ‘Como Polvo Liviano’ for alto saxophone (1998), and ‘Lineas Lontantes’, scored for alto saxophone and recorded tape (2002), for Crawford. In addition, Crawford is much in demand internationally not only as a saxophonist in joint performances with piano, organ, percussion, string quartet, guitar, and symphony orchestra, but is also a highly acclaimed conductor.