Sax Player Is A Smooth Operator

In the past few months, BK Jackson seems to have been everywhere.

He released his first smooth jazz CD, opened for legendary vocalist Tony Bennett at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday and performed the national anthem at four sold-out Tampa Bay Rays playoff games.

But the Blake High School senior doesn't dwell on his achievements.

"I got school work," said the television production major. "I got to do the dishes every other week."

Jackson, 17, picked up the alto saxophone by chance.

He was attending Progress Village Middle Magnet School of the Arts and wanted to play drums, which he played at church. But in sixth grade, he had to play a specific percussion instrument, not the entire set.

He tried the trumpet, but that made him light-headed. He also tried the clarinet. Then he asked his mother, Regina Jackson Underwood, for a suggestion. She directed him to the alto sax, thinking it might allow him to earn extra cash while attending college.

Signs of his promise came early. At 14, he performed at a family friend's wedding in Daytona Beach, and that led to invitations to play at functions in Miami and West Palm Beach.

This summer, the Thonotosassa teen won the $7,500 grand prize at the fifth annual Capital Jazz Challenge in Maryland, which features unsigned musicians from across the nation. Although not signed to a label, he released his first CD, "On the Move," in August.

"I never saw it coming," Underwood said of her son's success. "We are just blessed to be where we are - where he is."

She's a bookkeeper at Blake High, where her daughter, Jasmine Jackson, is a sophomore studying dance.

Frank Williams met BK Jackson about four years ago. The longtime Pinellas County band and jazz director was guest conductor of the Hillsborough County High School Honor Jazz Band.

Jackson, who was in the eighth-grade honors jazz band, kept coming in to see the older students rehearse. He introduced himself to Williams and said he admired the intensity of the rehearsal.

"That's what they need," Williams recalls Jackson saying. "They need that fire."

"He is not afraid of anything," said Williams, jazz and band director at Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport. "He wants to stick his nose to the grindstone and make it happen.

"Despite the success he is having, it doesn't slow down his hunger for improvement," Williams said.

Ralph Underwood said his stepson had an early interest in music. By the time BK was 9, they were attending jazz concerts together.

When they lived in Carrollwood, Underwood turned a utility room into a clubhouse where BK played drums and keyboard and Jasmine sang and danced.

"We let them go out there and do their thing," he said. "We didn't have to worry about the noise in the house."

Jackson, whose initials stand for Bernard Kym, stays busy. As well as rehearsing daily with the school's jazz band, he practices Mondays with the Ruth Eckerd Hall Clearwater Jazz Holiday Youth Jazz Band and on Thursdays he rehearses with the 34th Street Church of God's band, where he plays drums, organ and saxophone.

On his Web site, www.bkjackson.com, he has performance dates set through January.

Abnerd Joseph, a senior music major at Blake, said his friend keeps a level head despite his achievements. They hang out during lunch and after school to talk about movies, events and music.

"When it comes to music, he is very mature," Joseph said. "When it comes to subjects of our age group, he is just like us."

Jackson is considering colleges including Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and the University of South Florida. He wants to major in jazz and minor in business administration.

As for the music business, he wants to be signed by a major record label, record a No. 1 album and song in the smooth jazz genre and win a Grammy.

"It is just up to me to follow this path," he said. "If you are going to do something, do it."