Jessica Ackerley Q&A

By Ado Nkemka

Jessica Ackerley (she/they), a white-presenting person, is seated in front of a book shelf, between a dark wooden desk and wood finish electric hollow body guitar. Jessica is seated with their legs crossed, with their left arm rested on their left knee, hand cupping their jawline. They’re wearing purple pants and a gray denim top with round studs around the shoulders. Photographer credit: Michael Kochman.

New Works Marketing Coordinator Ado Nkemka spoke with guitarist, composer, visual artist, and academic Jessica Ackerley (she/they) about their upcoming performance on October 27th, at High Line Brewing. The Jessica Ackerley Trio will perform in support of Jessica’s latest record “All Of the Colours are Singing.” Their set will be supported by special guests. Read this Q&A to learn more about Jessica’s background, her travels, and the circumstances that led to “All Of the Colours are Singing.” Get tickets to the October 27th performance featuring Cloud Circuit and Nia Devetzis (performing Sarah Hennies) here. This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

Ado: Could you tell me a bit about yourself?

I'm actually a native Albertan. I grew up in Airdrie, Alberta, and I went to school in Edmonton at Grant MacEwan University, back when it was a college. I moved away from Alberta, when I was 20 years old, to the East Coast of Canada, where I spent a couple years out there before making my way down to the United States. 

I came to the US, initially, to do my master's degree at Rutgers University, in New Jersey, and then through going to school there, I eventually made my way to New York City, where I spent a lot of time performing as a guitarist, improviser, leading my own bands. And since the pandemic, my practice has really shifted, partly because of my move to Hawaii, where I'm doing my PhD in composition, but I also do a lot of painting. 

I am studying more contemporary classical composition right now, with an emphasis in intercultural composition. So I'm learning how to write for traditional Asian instrumentation, and so that's kind of created this synthesis and hybrid with all of my musical interests and artistic interests currently, and has kind of really shifted and created a lot of growth in my practice in the recent years.

Jessica: Can you tell me, what are some of the differences? Maybe related to the art scene, or maybe more general, or just creativity, between Alberta, New York, and Hawaii?

Yeah. I mean, they're three very vastly different places, locations. Growing up in Alberta, for me, it was a different experience because I was just living it through the lens of becoming a young adult into my early 20s, and I wasn't really aware of much of what was going on artistically or musically there. 

Airdrie was like maybe a population of 12,000 people when I was growing up there, and it was still very disconnected from Calgary, and I haven't been back in several years, but last time I was back there, in 2018, I could see how much the cities have kind of merged into a suburb, or kind of like a satellite of Calgary, but I still have been keeping track of what other artists have been doing there, even though I've been away and connecting with new artists that I haven't met before in real life, but I will this trip, and I think that there's a lot of exciting stuff happening there.

And as someone that has lived in New York, where that can feel like a center for all kinds of creativity and innovations in art, you can kind of build it up in your head that that's the only spot where that kind of innovation can happen. But I have been watching through social media and keeping tabs on what's going on in Alberta with the music scene, and I see a lot of exciting stuff there as well. So I'm excited to reconnect with that, being away from it for so long.

As for Hawaii, Hawaii, as a location itself, is highly unique due to the fact that it's so multicultural. And there are many diasporas coming from the Philippines, from Korea, from Japan, from China, the Indigenous Hawaiian Kānaka, Maoli, Portuguese immigrants, Puerto Rican immigrants. And it's kind of created this synthesis and unique culture with like foods, socially, but also musically. The ukulele was brought over from the Spanish and Portuguese as an instrument, and that's basically a symbol of Hawaiian music. I do get to spend time working with different musicians from different cultures. 

I got to compose music for a gayageum player, which is a zither instrument, a Korean zither instrument. And I also play in a gamelan ensemble. It's a giant bell – a metal xylophone ensemble. They have them in Bali, and they have them in Java, Indonesia. So I think, like, I'm really lucky to have grown up in Alberta and had that experience, but also been able to learn so much from other places in the world, and really open my worldview, not only musically and artistically, but like how I can work within it as an individual.

You're a musician, a composer and a visual artist. What came first?

What came first? When I was a child in Alberta, I think visual art came first. I did a lot of drawing and art classes growing up. My interest in music didn't start until I was a teenager with rock bands, and I grew up with a lot of music videos with Much Music. So even though Airdrie was pretty isolated in terms of music, I had a lot of access to music through the television, and then also the radio – listening to a lot of radio, the CBC and CJSW.

I think it’s just always been fuel for me, in terms of just continuously being creative and being excited to make things. I don't think it was one or the other, something would pique my interest, and then I'm like “Ooh, I want to try to figure out this.” Or “How do I make this?” Or I see someone else doing it, and then I'm like, “Oh, how can I figure out how they do it and do it myself.

If you were to make a statement about how each discipline complements the other, whether it's process wise or just being able to generate ideas, or maybe it's just talking to people and meeting people and being inspired. I'm curious about in what ways that the different disciplines complement each other.

I didn't really notice it as much when I was in New York, but being here in Hawaii, my national connections with artists were actually with visual artists, so I took a lot of painting classes at a local art school, here in Honolulu. And then through that, I spent more time with visual artists before starting my PhD in music. 

One of my first research papers that I worked on, when I started my first semester, was on synesthesia and the experience between how listening can kind of turn into imagery in some people's brains, or maybe like a smell crosswires with taste. It's basically a cross wiring of the senses. When I was doing a lot of research in Japanese arts and culture and their traditions, they actually put a lot of emphasis on not sectioning senses as individual sensory experiences and it's more an overall experience.

As I was doing more research, I learned it wasn't until the 20th century when we started compartmentalizing sensory experiences as classifications of sight, sound, taste, listening, and touch, etc. And it was something that kind of really pushed to make an emphasis on sensory experience being one whole experience that an individual has, in the moment, rather than dividing through each sense what your brain is interpreting within your surroundings.

I think that compartmentalization comes into a lot of like Western European thoughts and theories and practices. In other cultures, that's not necessarily the case with how they experience music. It's not only something that we go to a concert and enjoy in many cultures, and as I'm learning through the time that I've been studying gamelan. It's a very important social practice for connecting community as well and food is often involved.

You go and you play a couple hour gamelan concert – there's going to be food, you're drinking tea while you're playing the instruments, and you have a little break in between your part. So I think that's what's really fascinating to me, at this point, not just the act of doing these individual things, but how they affect the overall experience and what I take away from it, and what my mind interprets it as.

Right now you're touring “All of the Colors Are Singing” And I'm curious about what inspired the project.

I knew that I wanted to do another album – I'm going to use the umbrella term jazz, even though it doesn't really fit with all of the music on the record – But I wanted to do my own project of compositional work under the umbrella of contemporary or modern jazz composition. 

I have released two albums with my trio in 2017 and then my quartet in 2018 and I knew that it would be a challenge having moved to Hawaii and the musicians were going to be back in New York City. So part of the record was actually recorded live here in Hawaii, and then part of the record with all of the string instruments was remotely recorded and overdubbed back in New York City. 

My idea and initial plans for how I thought this record was going to come about, and the resulting work would actually be one way. But because of all the challenges and navigating this new territory of dealing with musicians in different places and figuring out ways to work around that compositionally, has shaped the record into what it was in a very unexpected and exciting way. 

I think that because I was running up against these walls of these various challenges, it's pushed me, in a way, to reroute the direction the music was going to accommodate those challenges without compromising the energy and the heart put into the music. So going into it, it was a plan that I had in my mind initially, and then quickly those plans had to wash away, and I just kind of had to go with the flow and the result of it was very surprising and probably a piece of work that I'm most proud of, out of my whole catalog.

What are you most looking forward to on the 27th?

I just found out that my friends are actually going to be opening for us a couple weeks ago, so I'm excited to reconnect with Cloud circuit. I haven't seen them both since I was on tour in Montreal, in 2019. I’m looking forward to seeing Chris Dadge again, because he hosted us last time we came through Canada and Calgary, when I brought my trio out to Alberta in 2018.

Working with New Works Calgary, and Rebecca (Bruton) is also really exciting. I've never met Rebecca in person before, even though we've known each about each other for years, and meeting these people that are such colors and more creative and adventurous music within Calgary is going to be definitely a highlight for me, because as someone that also has done a lot of curation and organization in local scenes, I know the work that is put into it and how much energy is given to kind of create these spaces where people can congregate and witness this music – music that's not necessarily mainstream as well. So I'm looking forward to that, and I'm grateful that both Chris and Rebecca and you all are hosting us, and getting to connect with musicians, and play some hopefully amazing music for everyone that's going to attend.

You said earlier that as a multi-passionate person, you have long days. How do you manage those long days?  I know, personally, that practice can be quite dreadful, to be honest – and I can only imagine the energy you have to put in to be great at each different thing. I don't know if you have any tips or tricks to keep things fresh or to keep going?

I just started recently – because I'm also doing this PhD, which takes up a lot of energy as well – so I have to really make sure that I'm efficient with time blocking my week. I really struggled with it for a couple years. If I go for more than one or two days without practicing my instrument, then I can kind of feel it take a hit, in terms of getting back on the bike and working on my long term goals with what I'm trying to do on the instrument. 

So I try my best to at least get a couple hours a day on that, and then a couple hours a day composing. And then with painting, it's something that I'll work on, if I have some gallery open calls I'm applying for, then I'll have that as something that I work on every day leading up to those deadlines. But then sometimes I kind of have to put it on the back burner to kind of accommodate and prioritize the other responsibilities that I have with my PhD – we haven't even talked about the arts administration too, because when we are artists, we’re trying to create but we're also sending all the emails, writing all the grants, and doing all the website updates, and the social media and everything, and that takes a lot of time too. 

So I wish that I had any good tips or feedback, but I'm always, constantly, trying to figure it out and adjusting to what my needs are in the moment, in the day to day. One thing that I'm starting to realize is, a lot of it comes in seasons. So if you're not consistent with one area of your practice or you put something on the back burner that you want to pursue regularly, it's okay. You can always come back to it and not have that guilt of stepping away from it, at that moment, to kind of focus on other things that you need to take care of, and kind of moving within those seasons based on what you think and feel is best.

Is there anything that you'd like to share that I haven't given you the chance to share?

When people come to the show on the 27th, I'll have vinyl records, and there's no distribution in Canada for these vinyl records. So I'm excited to share the vinyl with folks – just know that if they show up, then they don't have to pay the international shipping fees for these records that I'm going to be bringing all the way from Hawaii. And the vinyl is beautiful. The photographer is a local artist here who just shoots on film, and the artwork on the back is cropped sections of a painting that I did. And I'm just looking forward to reconnecting with everyone in Calgary, and it's been a long time, so it's going to feel like a really important homecoming for me.

Get tickets to Jessica Ackerley Trio’s October 27th performance featuring Cloud Circuit and Nia Devetzis (performing Sarah Hennies) here.

Biography

Jessica Ackerley is a Canadian guitarist, improviser and composer currently on tour promoting their latest release, “All Of the Colors Are Singing,” out on AKP Recordings. Their music is a hybrid musical language drawing on the influences of Black American Music and avant-garde improvisers, as well as the culture of the thriving New York City rock and noise scenes. Since 2017, Ackerley has released 19 albums to much critical acclaim with features in Wire Magazine, Pitchfork, BBC Radio, and BandCamp. As an active performer, Ackerley has toured extensively throughout North America, performing at noteworthy venues like The Met Breuer, The Stone, Something Else! Festival, Coastal Jazz Festival, and countless underground venues ranging from the basements of houses to record shops.

Band members

Jessica Ackerley - electric guitar

Walter Stinson - upright bass

Aaron Edgcomb - drums