Upon graduation, he served as a trumpeter in The United States Army Band and Herald Trumpets in Washington, D.C. during the administration of President Kennedy.  Throughout his professional playing career, Dr. Jackson performed throughout the world in a wide variety of diverse musical styles, including Ancient Music (The Saxhorn Ensemble of the Smithsonian Institute), Chamber Music (The Riverside Brass Quintet, The Hudson Valley Philharmonic Brass Quintet), Jazz (The Duke Ellington Orchestra), and Blues (The Otis Redding Band).

  In 1979, Dr. Jackson received a doctorate in ethnomusicology from Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Socales, Paris, France.  His research concentrated on the study of traditional music and dance styles found in diverse cultural areas of Cameroon, in West Africa.  The research was further developed in 1975 during a six-month sojourn in Cameroon, culminating in his thesis on The Traditional Uses of The Bafaphone (marimba) in Four Cameroonian Cultural Areas.  Dr. Jackson studied composition in France under Jean Catoire and compositions from that period were published in Paris (Editions Billaudof).