About
Musician | Educator | Thought Leader
"I have been entrusted with an aptitude for music so that I can be about the work of wellness in my community and in my environment. That work includes restoring our subconscious and super-subconscious memory, reacquainting with our original customs and languages; restoring and developing our intrinsic culture. I gather the pieces of our
"I have been entrusted with an aptitude for music so that I can be about the work of wellness in my community and in my environment. That work includes restoring our subconscious and super-subconscious memory, reacquainting with our original customs and languages; restoring and developing our intrinsic culture. I gather the pieces of our fractured history together in the vibrations of our ancestors that we might fashion an accurate map of the way forward. Together."
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Jason Marshall is a premiere voice on the baritone saxophone, rooted in the bebop tradition yet deeply expansive in his musical curiosity. Based in New York City since 2003, he has built a wide-reaching career as a performer, composer, arranger, educator, and cultural voice. His work honors the joy, complexity, and legacy of Black American Music, spanning styles and generations with integrity and soul.
Jason holds a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from Queens College's Aaron Copland School of Music and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Saxophone from The New School’s School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. Over the past two decades, he has brought his artistry to stages around the world, performing and recording with his own ensemble as well as with artists including Roy Hargrove, Aretha Franklin, Deedee Bridgewater, Chaka Khan, Abdullah Ibrahim, Kurt Elling, The Roots, The Temptations, Mingus Big Band, Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Birdland Big Band, and New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. His discography as a leader includes Overt Negritude (2006), Sign the Book (2010), Joy Unspeakable (2020), and New Beginnings (2022, Cellar Live). As a sideman, he has contributed to acclaimed projects including Emergence (Roy Hargrove Big Band), Timeless (Kenny Lattimore), Echoes of Ethnicity (Derrick Gardner), Such Sweet Thunder (Delfeayo Marsalis), Centennial Sessions (Mingus Big Band), Storybook (Birdland Big Band), and Soto Blue (Abdullah Ibrahim).
Beyond the bandstand, Jason is a devoted jazz educator. He currently teaches at Montclair State University and The New School and leads ensembles and instrumental instruction with Jazz House Kids (Montclair and Trinity programs). His private studio has nurtured young musicians for over a decade, while his work with Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections & Social Impact Program brings music education to system-involved and incarcerated individuals across the country. At Columbia University Business School, he gives lectures on how jazz and African American culture can positively influence corporate cultures around the world.
Jason’s writing extends his role as a cultural historian and thinker. His published essays—on John Coltrane, Hampton Hawes, Lee Morgan, and Stanley Turrentine—honor Black music luminaries and their continued resonance. These reflections are housed at Ivy Style, where his contributions form a bridge between music, culture, and identity.