Jordon Dabney

“Music has always been a part of the way I learned.”

Jordon Dabney found out about Oaktown Jazz Workshops (OJW) when his mother, a choreographer and dancer, was rehearsing at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts for a project with OJW’s Founding Director, Khalil Shaheed.

Mr. Shaheed invited Jordan to attend OJW’s year-round workshops for young musicians at Oakland’s Dimond Recreation Center.

Raised in Oakland, CA Jordon Dabney loved music and dance as a toddler and started playing piano at age four. He picked up clarinet at age nine at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland and switched to alto saxophone the following year.

Jordon is now in his freshman year at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY and after participating in OJW from age 10 to 17 he feels he will continue to use jazz music as a tool of expression. “I can really bring myself to each tune, not just the improvisation but the tune itself. And at the same time I can listen to, and try to get into the head of the writer or arranger and put myself in their shoes.”

Appreciating the unique nature of jazz, Jordon states, “The expression and fantasy you can get through a lot of styles of music, but the thing that makes jazz appealing to me more than anything else is the challenge; it’s engaging, it takes a lot of work and there are so many details.”

Some of Jordon’s most memorable experiences with OJW have included the times he performed for The Oakland Symphony’s Celebration of the Life of Dave Brubeck at the Paramount Theater, The Port of Oakland’s Summer Intern Luncheon at Everett & Jones BBQ and The Alameda County Fair. “The gigs are always the most fun. When we rehearse it is focused on playing the whole time, but when we get to a gig and there is time before or after the gig and we’re just hanging out – that’s when we get to know each other a lot better…and when you begin to get comfortable with each other on a gig, it comes onto the stage with you.”