Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Ferrin.
Hi Jordan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My musicality was, I think, apparent to others even before it was apparent to me. Since I was a kid, I was always quite into listening and enjoying music. My parents usually had on the likes of Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and other classic-rock groups. Then it was the pop-boom of the 90’s with Backstreet Boys, etc. Then it was the rock of the ’90s and 2000s. Then? Well…it took me some time to fall in love with jazz since my sonic world was still very much the aforementioned things, too!
I had beyond-incredible role models in my life who tried directing me toward the best music education opportunities, but the thing is my interests and my mind like darting around toward many other things besides music. While I sometimes wish I had taken another path to get here, the path on which I got here has been unbelievable beyond words. It took me to wonderful teachers and mentors. It took me toward an even broader scope and appreciation of not just jazz but music.
And it took me all over the world. Literally. I worked as a cruise ship musician for about four years, and well…I’ve been everywhere. Everything I do and am today is informed and inspired by the HUNDREDS of hard-to-describe experiences I’ve had. But I DO try to describe them…through stories, through performing music, through teaching music, through giving music.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No, it has not. I grew up neurodivergent in the ’90s. At that time schools, educators, and parents were just starting to learn how to guide kids on the spectrum. My teachers didn’t know exactly what to do with me. Neither did my parents. I messed up a lot. I’m surprised I never landed in deep, deep trouble, like expulsion, or even juvenile hall…. However, let’s go back to my role models, especially my elementary teachers and, above all, my mom. If it weren’t for their belief in me, their wisdom, and their love, I’d be a very different person today. Clearly, what they all did was cultivate the best sides of me!
I have since struggled in my 20s with mental health issues not immediately apparent to me. Why? I had considered myself a success story–a “normal,” independently functioning member of society. After therapy in regard to darker times in my early 30s, I now have a grasp on my deepest flaws and can live happily and satisfyingly.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a music creative who loves to give. Honestly, I don’t perform, compose, teach, or write solely to satisfy myself anymore. What matters is the message I want to bring to the world. I have traveled the world, and throughout that time, I’ve learned things most people never learn even in a lifetime… My mission in life is to bring these things to all those who will receive them.
I cannot single out one factor of my transformation via world travel. It’s not just about the tremendous beauty and wonder I’ve witnessed in Stockholm, Singapore, Nice, Florence, Osaka–the list goes on and on… It’s not just about the incredible interactions with strangers in these places, always rooted in a willingness to share, to help, and overall, a kindness that says, “I see you, and you are like me: you are human.” It’s not just about the infinite possibilities of the improvisational nature of jazz as a creative outlet; and it’s not just about how my travels changed how I engage with ANY kind of music.
It IS about how everything comes together. Works together to motivate my pursuits. I have a contemporary-jazz project, inspired by artists like the Brian Blade Fellowship, Snarky Puppy, and Donny McCaslin, called The Jordan Ferrin Storyband. Every piece, written about one of my travel experiences, is original and has a corresponding story. I tell the story onstage before we play the piece. The piece complements and finishes the story. My pursuits don’t stop at this project, however. I am deeply interested and invested in how people process music cognitively. I have a published research paper about a music-cognition concept called audiation–you can find it in the journal Jazz Education in Research and Practice, Vol. 4. I am a teacher, too, who wishes to see students open their creative potential and energy into their lives THROUGH music, so that may be better fulfilled in all they do, even if they decide not to pursue music full-time.
My pursuits are several, yes, but I want to give through these pursuits–at the end of the day, I don’t want them to be for me alone. Furthermore, I’ve seen the WORLD…how could I possibly sit by and keep that all to myself? Never.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is not an end goal. It is a product of pursuing that which makes you satisfied, happy and leads you to see meaning in your life. Happiness isn’t always there, and it can be hard to maintain. But it starts with satisfaction; if you are satisfied in an authentic, honest way with yourself and what you do, happiness and a sense of meaning both build in your life, FROM your life. These consequences are naturally a form of success.
Does success need to be material? A stereotypical Western view of success is having boatloads of money. If the means by which you earn more money than you need makes you UNSATISFIED, then that leads to UNHAPPINESS. And your sense of meaning in life is corrupted or lost.
What makes me satisfied is giving. If I know my giving is helping people, then I am not only satisfied and happy, but I feel the meaning of my life grow and grow. The best way I can give is through music, in any way I can. That includes not just performing and composing but teaching, writing, and researching. My success is a product of my giving.
Contact Info:
- Website: jordanferrinmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedudeofsax/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ferrinmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0YLnLW7nYLEcmTDAmBoVpg
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/album/40yXqTQa120Gtubh3XmHsW?si=HaKH8aJNS6eiUFulPkOAnw
Image Credits
Photos by Dario Griffin
