Pierson, John "Jack" (1931-2018) | University of Illinois Archives

John "Jack" Davin Pierson (1931-2018) was a band director from Dearborn, Michigan. In the early 1960s he began teaching at Ray H. Adams Junior High School. Following this, Pierson taught for 35 years at Dearborn Fordson High School as well as at the Interlochen School for the Arts, Blue Lakes Fine Arts Camp, and at Schoolcraft College. In 1973, Pierson used his role as Jazz Committee member of the Michigan School Band Directors Association to found the first jazz workshop in the state and served as adjudicator for the first jazz festival. In 1981, he became the president of the MSBDA, serving in this role until 1984. In 1991, he became the president of the American School Band Directors Association. After this, Pierson served as the MSBDA's Executive Director from 1992 to 1999.

Pierson was an accomplished pianist and trumpeter, performing in jazz combos and alongside musicians like Cannonball Adderley and Neal Hefti. Some of the groups he played with included: The TBA Big Band, The Boston Connection, Palm Coast Big Band, and Jazz Piersonified. In 1983 he served as the coordinator for the Jazz Studies Program at Henry Ford College in Detroit. Pierson's jazz trio and sveral of his student ensembles performed during the 2003 Detroit International Jazz Festival. This festival would honor him in 2019 with a special performance of past friends of Pierson. He was also honored during the 2004 Michigan Jazz Festival. Pierson served as the music director of the Detroit Playboy Club. In 2005, Pierson moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where he became the president of the St. Augustine Jazz Society. Pierson died in Florida on June 13, 2018.

John "Jack" Pierson Obituary, online at: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/staugustine/name/john-pierson-obituary?id=11858890.

Kenneth James Moore, "A History of the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, 1959-2009" Boston University, DMA Dissertation, 2012.

Mark Stryker, Jazz From Detroit (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2019): 208.