Current Spanish Lake Elementary music teacher and former Bob Graham Education Center music teacher, Jackson Bunn, will be the featured performer for the second year in a row with his band at Jazz in the Park on Saturday, January 27. The event starts at 6 p.m. and will be held at Miami Lakes Picnic Park West, 15151 N.W. 82 Avenue.
Bunn was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on November 27, 1962. He began learning songs from movies, TV and radio on the piano at age six. He studied piano and viola throughout high school in the Chicago area and graduated from Illinois State University.
Bunn moved back to Chicago and formed his own jazz fusion group called ‘Wild Pitch’ in 1992. The band performed at the Park West Theater and even opened for comedian Bernie Mack. The band was also the house band at the legendary Jazz Oasis Jazz Club. His band also performed pre-game music at home plate in Wrigley Field, home of the 2016 World Champion Chicago Cubs.
In 1994, Bunn spent a year in Los Angeles performing with several bands, and recorded with a prominent blues artist in the historic A&M records in Hollywood. He also had the privilege of hanging out with his long-time friend and mentor, Russell Ferrante, Grammy-winning keyboardist and composer of the jazz supergroup Yellowjackets.
After a short stint in Los Angeles, Bunn's family moved to Miami where he recorded his original jazz project, The Jackson Bunn Group Chosen Path. They performed at nightclubs and festivals throughout South Florida including Fort Lauderdale's Sunday Jazz Brunch, City of Hollywood Art Circle Park, and he even opened for Bela Fleck at Sunfest West Palm Beach in 1998.
He performed at the 2002 Atlanta Jazz Festival and opened for legendary drummer, Roy Haynes. In early 2003, Bunn joined the popular South Florida top 40 band, Pangea. They performed at weddings, corporate functions and nightclubs for the past 14 years. Having recently parted ways amicably with Pangea, Bunn is excited to announce that he will be performing with South Florida’s premier horn band, The Brass Evolution.
Bunn has also been a Miami-Dade Public Schools music educator since 2003. He has taught elementary and middle school keyboard, orchestra, chorus, bucket drumming and guitar. He has four children, and he and his wife Ana are longtime residents of Miami Lakes.
Bunn’s Chosen Path, and holiday jazz CD are available at www.cdbaby.com/jacksonbunn.