Jason Metcalf - Baritone Sax

Jason Metcalf started his musical journey taking piano lessons and singing in the school choir at 5 years old. He comes from a musical family. His Grandfather George Metcalf toured the United States with top bluegrass and country bands in the 40's and 50's. His father Roger passed the musical tradition along. Although he was not a professional musician, there was always live music being played in the Metcalf household while Jason was growing up.

At the age of 10 Jason started on the saxophone and was fortunate enough to have some fine teachers in the early years to inspire him to take music seriously. He completed a Bachelor's degree in saxophone performance at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam where he studied contemporary music as well as jazz. While studying with Mark Gatz, he began playing professionally on Long Island.

He began performing with countless bands on the Long Island club scene, played at some local theaters including The Gateway Playhouse and Theatre Three, and performed with local big bands, the names of which he can't remember. At this time he also apprenticed as a woodwind repair technician, taught music lessons to hundreds of students, and longed to move away to Europe. After many extended trips to the south of France in the late 90's he finally decided to trade in the life of a Long Island musician for that of a musician on the French Riviera, and soon found himself doing his millennium gig in Nice, France where he installed himself permanently (so he thought).

While there he performed in several countries with many of the top musicians from Europe and some other fine ex-pats. He learned to speak French (and then instantly regretted it putain!) and Italian (che bello!) and even a bit of Danish (er det dig der har lavet lort pa mit hoved?) (He got sidetracked and moved to Denmark for a year where he repaired saxophones and drank beer).

After 6 years in Europe he abruptly moved back to New York to pursue his Master's degree in jazz performance at Queens College and play with Soul Be It.