Jakari Rush was born in Tallahassee, Florida USA. A naturally gifted pianist, he discovered his pianistic abilities at age 5. He began playing aurally at first then studied professionally with Dr. Ruben Malan during his high school years.

Rush discovered a love for musical composition early in life after his mom gave him a cassette disk of piano classics. His first piano composition, Prelude in C, was premiered in 2002 in a recital. Considering composition as a serious path did not come until after being inspired by a memorable 2007 All-State Chorus concert that involved the performance of James Q. Mulholland’s If Love Should Count You Worthy with Charles Bruffy as conductor. From that inspiration came his first serious chorale work Lead Gently Lord and Slow with text by black American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.

A millennial, with an old soul, Rush is a composer whose music matches his personality in many ways. His music embraces many influences such as Romanticism, Impressionism, Contemporary, Jazz, Gospel, and Hymnody to name a few. Being an admirer of music from the tonal language of the past, Rush’s music carves a niche of its own while still staying relevant to the musical “zeitgeist.” He has collaborated and premiered music with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra entity and renown bass-baritone, recording artist, and wonderful friend, Dr. Oral Moses. The Georgia Spiritual Ensemble of Atlanta premiered his Spiritual Cycle in 2018. His talents can also be seen in the Netflix series “Raising Dion.”

Rush holds a B.A. in Music Composition from Kennesaw State University and an M.M. (Masters of Music) in Piano Performance from Georgia State University.