Trombonist, composer, and B.A.C. Endorsing Artist Jon Hatamiya is one of the most promising trombonists to come out of the Sacramento area and is rapidly making a name for himself on both the New York and California music scenes. He was recognized in the August 1st, 2011 edition of Jet Magazine as the only trombonist on Wynton Marsalis’s list of “Who’s Got Next”, which highlighted the next generation of emerging jazz artists. Jon recently released his debut album as a leader More Than Anything on Orenda Records in early 2020.
As a performer, Jon has established a wide-ranging reputation reflecting his diverse musical interests. In the big band world, Jon is known as a lead trombone specialist with a soulful and fiery resonance, as well as a supportive and responsive section player. This versatility and knowledge of the big band tradition has led him to performances and recordings as lead trombone with the Kyle Athayde Dance Party, Jacob Mann Big Band, and the big band on Michael Bublé’s 2018 release, Love, and as a member of the trombone sections of the Bob Mintzer Big Band, John Daversa Progressive Big Band, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, among others.
Jon is also widely regarded as an imaginative and receptive improviser, and a proponent of the trombone as a modern creative voice. He appears in numerous smaller group settings that emphasize improvisation, musical communication, and spontaneity, such as nopanda (Los Angeles based quartet), and SMILES (collective quintet with members based all over the US), and as a sideman and featured soloist in performance, touring, and recording with artists such as Louis Cole, David Binney, Luca Alemanno, Paul Cornish’s BANNED, and Logan Kane’s Flotation band and Nonet.
Jon is active as an educator, having been faculty at the Lafayette Summer Music Jazz Workshop, Stanford Jazz Workshop, guest clinician at the Sitka Jazz Festival and Stanislaus State Jazz Festival, and a traveling clinician for the Monterey Jazz Festival. He teaches applied trombone at Sacramento State University, Cosumnes River College (Elk Grove, CA), and El Camino College (Torrance, CA). He also works as a bandleader with the New York City based jazz-rock fusion band XD 7 (with two self-released recordings), and the Jon Hatamiya Big Band, as well as several other ensembles under his own name ranging from trio to nonet.
His work as a composer and arranger (beyond in his own groups) includes commissions from Los Angeles trombone quartet Skinny Lips and the Sound Malfunction, Oakwood Brass, SFJAZZ, Fernando Pullum Center, and numerous high school and college level big bands around the world. Jon also received a 2015 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award from ASCAP and a 2016 Downbeat Student Music Award for his merits as a composer and arranger. In 2019, Jon was asked to arrange Australian grade-school student-written melodies selected by Herbie Hancock into the theme song for International Jazz Day. Jon’s arrangements have been performed by such major artists as Michael McDonald, John Mayer, Jhene Aiko, Aloe Blacc, Keb Mo, and Jackson Browne.
Jon received his Bachelor of Music degree in jazz trombone performance from Manhattan School of Music (where he was given the John Clark award for excellence in brass performance) his Master of Music in jazz studies from University of Southern California, and an additional Master of Music from the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance (now known as the Herbie Hancock Institute).