A typical teenager, he loves to skateboard; he plays cards with his friends; he’s crazy about Stephen King. But there is one thing about seventeen year old Drew Pierson of North Liberty that is not so typical—he is an accomplished saxophone player, and reveres the likes of John Coltrane and Sonny Rawlins.
Pierson, a recent graduate of West High School, was selected earlier this year to the prestigious Grammy High School Jazz Ensemble, sponsored by the Grammy Foundation and Gibson Guitars/Baldwin Pianos. The national competition rewarded 29 talented high school students by bringing them to Los Angeles to help celebrate the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. During his week in Los Angeles, Drew participated in intensive rehearsals, performed in several Los Angeles jazz clubs, and attended the Grammy Awards ceremony on February 8th.
But this was not the only national music award bestowed upon Drew Pierson. In 2003, the musical trio Jazz Attack, consisting of Drew on saxophone, Bridget Kearney on bass, and Andrew Aker on drums, was awarded the Downbeat Student Music Award for best small instrumental jazz group. Drew is very proud of these two accolades.
Drew Pierson began playing the saxophone in the sixth grade. His father, Rod Pierson, is an accomplished saxophone player and was Drew’s first teacher. Drew took up the saxophone, not because he wanted to, but because he thought it would please his father. And it did. Sharing a love for the saxophone has created a strong bond. And the elder Pierson continues to mentor his son by allowing him to play with his musical group, the Rod Pierson Big Band, in various local venues.
In addition to playing with his father’s big band, Drew Pierson improves his musical skills by taking lessons from University of Northern Iowa professor, Chris Merz. He also practices one to three hours per day, and spends a lot of time listening and emulating the styles of about fifteen jazz musicians including John Coltrane, Sonny Rawlins, and Michael Brecker.
Like many young artists, Drew loves to practice improvisation and dreads practicing the classics. Still, he does it. “Music theory is important to achieve musical independence on the horn. To get to a level where you don’t have to rely on that...not fun stuff...but you have to master it to become free from it,” explained Drew.
Drew’s mom, Deb Pierson, who is the director of the Penn Elementary Before and After School Program, has come to terms with Drew’s desire to become a professional musician. Being of a more practical nature, she has been encouraging Drew to major in something more marketable than Jazz Studies when he enters DePaul University this fall. But the many recent awards and accolades are gently shifting her sentiments toward realizing that her son is an especially talented saxophone player, and may be able to make a career of it.
As for Drew, he has not decided yet whether to go with his heart and major in Jazz Studies, or compromise and major in something his college advisor has suggested, Sound Technology, which would allow him to utilize his strong aptitude in mathematics.
In the meantime, Drew Pierson is having fun this summer. He is skateboarding, swimming, helping out with the Penn Summer Program, and hanging out with his friends and brothers, Nick and Matt. He played with nineteen other students in a united high school band at the Iowa City Jazz Festival, and will be playing with his old trio, Jazz Attack, in Cedar Rapids at the Jazz Under the Stars festival August 5th. In the fall he will move to Chicago, the foremost city of jazz, to attend college and pursue his dreams of becoming a great jazz musician.
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