Neil Jason
American musician, producer and composer
Neil Jason is an American musician, songwriter, producer and composer. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he has worked with some of the biggest recording artists, including John Lennon, Billy Joel, Roxy Music, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Kiss, Gene Simmons, Michael Jackson, Brecker Brothers, Hall & Oates, Cyndi Lauper, Harry Chapin, Joe Jackson, Charlie Watts, Dire Straits, Bryan Ferry, Diana Ross, Grace Slick, John McLaughlin, Gladys Knight, Debbie Harry, Michael Franks, Bob James, David Sanborn, Brigitte Zarie, Carly Simon, Janis Ian, Nils Lofgren, Eddie Van Halen, Mike Oldfield and tenor Luciano Pavarotti. He also writes for TV and film.
Neil was a member of the Saturday Night Live house band from 1980 to 1983 and has made over a hundred appearances with Paul Shaffer’s band on The Late Show With David Letterman. He has also worked on countless hit commercials and movies as a composer in New York City.
01Early life
Jason was born and raised in New York City. He grew up in Brooklyn and began playing the trumpet in the sixth grade. He went on to play in all the school bands, not only the trumpet, but also saxophone and trombone. He started taking piano lessons to learn more about music. He did not play the bass guitar until he was in high school.
02Influence
Jason has identified his influences as a combination of his school training on trumpet, saxophone, and piano (giving his fingers strength and dexterity). Bands who influenced him included Chase, Dreams and Chicago, and the musicians who influenced him included James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt, Larry Graham and Sly Stone.
03Collaborations
Artists
- Harry Chapin
- Eumir Deodato
- Bryan Ferry at Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna (May 30, 2017)
- Michael Franks
- Debbie Harry
- Janis Ian
- Joe Jackson
- Michael Jackson
- Mick Jagger
- Bob James
- Billy Joel
- Eric Johnson at Iridium Jazz Club, NYC (June 2010)
- Gladys Knight
- Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, Iridium Club NYC 2011
- Cyndi Lauper
- John Lennon
- Nils Lofgren
- Paul McCartney
- Grace Slick
- John McLaughlin
- Ted Nugent at Iridium Jazz Club, NYC (May 16, 2011)
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Diana Ross
- David Sanborn
- Paul Shaffer
- Carly Simon
- Paul Simon
- Gene Simmons
- Pete Townshend
- Eddie Van Halen
- Charlie Watts
Bands
04Personal life
In 1998, he married Canadian-born American singer, songwriter and composer Brigitte Zarie.
05Interviews
- Interviewed in Denmark, Summer 2014 during Brecker Brothers Reunion tour.
- Interviewed at JazzAaar Festival, Aarau, Switzerland, May 1, 2016
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Neil Jason”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Neil Jason Roxy Music 2022.jpg by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
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