Javon Jackson - Jackson Plays Dylan

Javon Jackson · Saxophone
Jeremy Manasia · Piano
Isaac Levien · Bass
Ryan Sands · Drums

Javon Jackson is one of the great living links to hard bop's golden era, having spent three formative years as the tenor saxophonist in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1987 until Blakey's death in 1990, playing alongside pianist Benny Green and trombonist Robin Eubanks. Since then he's built a career as a bandleader with 22 albums to his name and appearances on over 150 recordings alongside jazz giants like Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden, and Betty Carter. He currently directs the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford, chairs Jazz Studies for the National YoungArts Foundation, and continues to record prolifically, including his acclaimed 2022 collaboration with poet Nikki Giovanni, The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni.

His newest project, Jackson Plays Dylan, released in March 2026 on Solid Jackson Records, reimagines songs spanning three decades of Bob Dylan's career through a jazz lens, both Dylan's socially conscious protest songs and his intimate love ballads. Jackson has drawn a direct line between Dylan and his own musical heroes, saying Dylan "reminds me of Miles Davis and Duke Ellington in a way, always trying to find another, better version of what came before." The project carries a second layer of meaning too: Jackson originally conceived it as a collaboration with the late poet Nikki Giovanni, and the album has become a tribute to both Dylan's songbook and Giovanni's influence on his work. He brings the same core band from the recording to the Side Door: pianist Jeremy Manasia, a longtime fixture of the New York scene and three-time finalist in major piano competitions including the Thelonious Monk Competition; bassist Isaac Levien, an active presence in the city's emerging jazz community and co-founder of the quintet Altus; and drummer Ryan Sands, a Connecticut native and NEC/Manhattan School of Music-trained player who's worked with Christian Sands, John Escreet, and Jimmy Bruno.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.