Bio : Jarrod Steven Lawson
Bio: Jarrod Steven Lawson
Brief Description:
Jazzy, funky, soul singer/songwriter with a passion for truth and a keen perception for relating spiritual ideas to the listener. Accompanied by his own dazzling keyboard parts and nasty-funky bass lines, Jarrod brings an infectious sound that's sure to make you listen long enough to hear the overlaying message of reverence to God.
History:
Jarrod Lawson spent some of his earliest years exploring his father’s recording studio on 5th Ave. in Redwood City California. From the time he was a baby, Jarrod’s parents would say that if you didn’t know where Jarrod was, all you had to do was stop and listen for the humming that perpetually streamed unconsciously from his young lips. At the age of two, Jarrod began playing around on the studio drum kit, cultivating the early development of a deep rooted rhythmic foundation. At the age of 8, Jarrod’s parents, Steven and Susan, decided to move away from the Bay Area ‘s steadily growing urban sprawl and relocate up into a small rural countryside an hour south of Portland Oregon. It was here that Jarrod would be introduced to jazz, classical, soul, reggae, latin, and all of the types of music which have molded him into the musician that he is now. When Jarrod was 13, he began showing interest in the piano, having recently fallen in love with the intricate harmonies inherent in jazz. For the next few years, Jarrod immersed himself in all music which intrigued him, before eventually stumbling upon the musical genius of Stevie Wonder. This, Jarrod says, was the pivotal point in his musical sense of direction. Jarrod’s appreciation for Stevie’s heartfelt lyrical thought and melodic concept would be the device which broadened his field of vision. Jarrod spent three years at Clackamas CC in Oregon City, where he studied jazz more in depth while at the same time, honing in on his vocal capabilities. Jarrod is now 28 years old and has spent the better part of 10 years composing both lyrical as well as instrumental music which would be impossible to generically categorize. Having grown up amidst a non-denominational Christian family, a majority of the lyrical thoughts presented are along a spiritual vein, some of which are rather scathing and critical of the modern Christian church. Jarrod is a seeker of truth and he shares with us, through music, his feelings concerning God, love, beauty, frustration, compassion, and the divine plan. Jarrod’s most prominent musical and/or lyrical influences include Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Donnie Hathaway, Martin Sexton, D’angelo, Metheny & Mays, Jaco Pastorius, Chick Corea, Errol Garner, and Oscar Peterson to name a few.