Seattle Jazz Academy

Mack is the best! I'm a gigging keyboardist that came to Seattle Jazz Academy looking to take my range to the next level and Mack has absolutely done that. He is an excellent instructor with a seemingly bottomless well of knowledge and patience. I look forward to my session every week.
Mar 28th, 2022

This review is for jazz piano lessons with Jeremy Bacon. I have really enjoyed my lessons with Jeremy so far. He is such a good player, and knows his stuff, so I can ask him for help with anything and he can always show me something I haven't tried before. He is also very flexible and patient, which I appreciate. I have never felt shamed or degraded during a lesson; whatever progress I make in a given week, he meets me where I am and we go from there. I'm learning and it's fun, and that's all I can ask.
Mar 15th, 2022

Mack is a fantastic jazz piano teacher. He has tremendous enthusiasm and love for the craft of jazz piano practice and for the music itself. He's constantly inspiring me with pointers to great players and recordings that I haven't checked out before. He's got a really great sense of how to be informative but not overwhelming. He gives you bite-sized building blocks of technique and theory, and great advice for how to practice to integrate those elements into your playing in an organic way. Under him I have been astonished at how much progress I've made as a player, and in such a short time. Thanks to his guidance I've stunned my friends and put fear and dread in the hearts of my enemies! :) I could not recommend him more!
Mar 13th, 2022

Been taking lessons here for a bit over two years, and I went from having almost no piano ability to knowing tons of jazz standards and being able to read chords and improvise with no issues. Excellent studio!
Jan 6th, 2022

I'm an adult amateur pianist who has a background in classical music. I started with Mack's Intro to Jazz course and was very impressed with his expertise and friendly teaching approach. The class was very informative with lots of opportunities to learn and play in a group setting. Our class had 4 people, which felt like a good balance for group instruction. It was a great first experience with jazz and served as a bridge into a new area of music that I had been interested in for a while. From there, I started to take private lessons with Mack, and he has helped my jazz understanding and playing tremendously. In the 1.5 years of lessons we've done so far, I have become much more comfortable playing my own arrangements and improvising on jazz tunes, and also have a much better understanding of jazz music theory. This has actually fed back onto a better understanding of classical music for me as well, as most classical piano instruction today does not focus on theory or improvisation skills. Mack is a very encouraging teacher who also gives you lots of feedback. Also each week he brings a new technique or skill for you to add to your library, which keeps each week's practice sessions interesting and fresh. Overall I would highly recommend Seattle Jazz Academy. It's a great community of teachers and students who all love music, which has such a positive reinforcing quality for anyone who wants to learn.
Jan 3rd, 2022