Jesse has published widely on subjects including jazz, improvisation, hip hop, and experimental music in academic journals including American Music, Intermedialities, Black Music Research Journal, and Contemporary Music Review. He has authored nine book chapters and is currently working on two book projects: a co-authored book (with Ajay Heble) on the pedagogy of improvisation, and a co-edited book about Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument. He has given over 100 public talks at conferences, colloquia, and festivals around the world including numerous keynote presentations.
His music has been documented on over twenty recordings including Stretch Orchestra’s self-titled debut album which was honoured with the 2012 “Instrumental Album of the Year” JUNO award. He has performed and/or recorded with musical luminaries including William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, Hamid Drake, Ernst Reijseger, Dong-Won Kim, Michael Snow, David Mott, and many others. He endorses Headhunters brand drumsticks and Auracle handpans.
Jesse’s music has been featured at festivals throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. He has been widely commissioned as a composer and sound artist by organizations including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Guelph Jazz Festival, Ensemble Supermusique, the National Capital Commission, the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Electric Fields Festival, the City of Toronto, Ottawa New Music Creators, Propeller Dance, Ottawa Dance Directive, Carleton University Art Gallery, and the Ottawa Art Gallery.
In addition to his work as an academic, composer, and musician, he is a visual artist who has participated in over twenty exhibitions in public art galleries including the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Thames Art Gallery, the Glenhyrst Gallery, the Peterborough Art Gallery, the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, and the Ottawa Art Gallery. Five exhibition catalogues have been published about his work in the visual arts. With architect Matt Edwards, he formed Mixed Metaphors Design, a creative partnership that creates multi-sensory public art installations. In 2015, they were awarded a public commission by the City of Ottawa to create a sound sculpture titled The Listening Tree, a 15-foot tall stainless steel sound sculpture located in St. Luke’s Park in Ottawa (https://vimeo.com/440512100 ).
He is committed to fostering community health through music, art, and education. As a means to that end, he has taught five classes through Discovery University, a program run by the Ottawa Mission that provides free university-level courses, taught by university professors, to individuals who are street-involved or are otherwise living in low-income situations. He is also the founder of “We Are All Musicians” (WAAM), an organization dedicated to providing opportunities for individuals and groups to make music regardless of age, musical training, socio-economic circumstance, or ability. Through the WAAM initiative, Jesse has conducted hundreds of inclusive music workshops and performances throughout North America, partnering with diverse community groups and organizations including: H’Art of Ottawa (now Being Studio); the Alzheimer’s Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County; Propeller Dance; Minwaashin Lodge; Regina Street Alternative School; VibraFusion Lab in London, ON; AUMI-KU Interarts in Lawrence, Kansas; and many others. Through the WAAM project, he has collaborated with diverse communities including Indigenous youth, Deaf children, people with disabilities of various kinds, seniors with Alzheimer’s, as well as children and adults from low-income backgrounds. For a documentary film about the We Are All Musicians project, see https://vimeo.com/334477726.
Through the WAAM project, Jesse has developed or co-developed a variety of adaptive and assistive technologies that enable people with disabilities of various kinds (including those with limited motor control) to make music. For example, he has been involved in the development of the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument (AUMI), which is designed to adapt to anyone’s musical and physical abilities; the AUMI uses a computer webcam to track movements—even very slight movements made by individuals with limited motor control—and translate those movements into music/sound. In 2018, he developed a system through which the AUMI activates mechanical strikers that can be attached to acoustic instruments, thereby allowing people with limited mobility to play traditional musical instruments using whatever mobility they may have. In addition, he co-developed (with a team of Biomedical Engineers and Industrial Designers at Carleton University) the SensAble Adaptive Use Musical Instrument (SAMI), which uses arduino technology, digital synthesis software, and an accelerometer to turn a foam ball into a synthesizer controller such that the movements of the ball in space create music.
In 2014, Jesse was named to the Order of Ottawa, a civic award that “honours residents who have excelled in their field and who have made outstanding contributions to life in our communities.” In 2017, he received the Ottawa Arts Council’s Mid-Career Artist Award. He is a co-investigator with several large-scale research initiatives including the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI); the Research and Education in Accessibility, Design, and Innovation (READi) program; and the Music and Health Research Institute.
