
Jason Bohde first discovered jazz as a youngster through his great uncle’s big band record collection.
When he joined his school’s band in the fifth grade, he was more or less “assigned” the clarinet by the
school band teacher. To Jason, clarinet wasn’t a very “cool” instrument. His grandmother and great
uncle suggested he listen to Benny Goodman and this changed his opinion of the clarinet and started
him down the jazz path, with big band music as his foundation. Not long after, he discovered trumpeter Doc Severinsen on then-host Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show where Doc was the music director. “I remember rigging up an old computer monitor with a VCR and splicing into the cable TV line that ran through the attic so I could secretly watch the Tonight Show long after I was supposed to be in bed,” Jason recounts. This ignited his passion for the trumpet and jazz playing in particular. He switched to the trumpet for his senior year in high school and has been a trumpet player ever since. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Jason moved to North Carolina in 2009 to complete a degree in Middle Grades Mathematics Education from North Carolina State University. His previously studied music at Wayne State University in Detroit with William Lucas of the Detroit Symphony (now a professor of trumpet at the University of Michigan) and at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan with Gordon Simmons of the Michigan Opera Theater. Having run a brass studio out of his house while in Michigan, Jason continued his teaching practice in North Carolina through Music & Arts in Durham while at NCSU. After student teaching in Raleigh and a long-term math substitute job in Chapel Hill, Jason decided to pursue teaching brass instruments full time through Music & Arts. In 2019, he was nominated for the Music & Arts’ Music Teacher of the Year, an annual nationwide award that honors outstanding music teachers. As a finalist, he placed among the top twenty-five music teachers in the country. A fan of all styles of music, Jason has played jazz, classical, rock and even polka. When he lived in Detroit, Jason played in the Mass Transit Band (rock/pop), Rhythm Society Swing Orchestra (big band jazz), Planet D Nonet (jazz), The Kielbasa Kings (Polish polka), Oakland Brass Band and the Dodworth Saxhorn Band (Civil War era brass band). Since moving to North Carolina, he has played with the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra, the Raleigh Jazz Orchestra, the Triangle Brass Band and the NC Revelers Big Band. He currently plays with the Carolina Moondogs, freelances, and runs his own teaching studio, the Bohde Brass Studio, where he teaches trumpet, trombone, baritone/euphonium and tuba. Jason has more than 20 years of teaching and performing experience and teaches all ages and all styles of brass
playing. His studio is located within the Durham Jazz Workshop.
https://www.bohdebrassstudio.com/
When he joined his school’s band in the fifth grade, he was more or less “assigned” the clarinet by the
school band teacher. To Jason, clarinet wasn’t a very “cool” instrument. His grandmother and great
uncle suggested he listen to Benny Goodman and this changed his opinion of the clarinet and started
him down the jazz path, with big band music as his foundation. Not long after, he discovered trumpeter Doc Severinsen on then-host Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show where Doc was the music director. “I remember rigging up an old computer monitor with a VCR and splicing into the cable TV line that ran through the attic so I could secretly watch the Tonight Show long after I was supposed to be in bed,” Jason recounts. This ignited his passion for the trumpet and jazz playing in particular. He switched to the trumpet for his senior year in high school and has been a trumpet player ever since. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Jason moved to North Carolina in 2009 to complete a degree in Middle Grades Mathematics Education from North Carolina State University. His previously studied music at Wayne State University in Detroit with William Lucas of the Detroit Symphony (now a professor of trumpet at the University of Michigan) and at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan with Gordon Simmons of the Michigan Opera Theater. Having run a brass studio out of his house while in Michigan, Jason continued his teaching practice in North Carolina through Music & Arts in Durham while at NCSU. After student teaching in Raleigh and a long-term math substitute job in Chapel Hill, Jason decided to pursue teaching brass instruments full time through Music & Arts. In 2019, he was nominated for the Music & Arts’ Music Teacher of the Year, an annual nationwide award that honors outstanding music teachers. As a finalist, he placed among the top twenty-five music teachers in the country. A fan of all styles of music, Jason has played jazz, classical, rock and even polka. When he lived in Detroit, Jason played in the Mass Transit Band (rock/pop), Rhythm Society Swing Orchestra (big band jazz), Planet D Nonet (jazz), The Kielbasa Kings (Polish polka), Oakland Brass Band and the Dodworth Saxhorn Band (Civil War era brass band). Since moving to North Carolina, he has played with the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra, the Raleigh Jazz Orchestra, the Triangle Brass Band and the NC Revelers Big Band. He currently plays with the Carolina Moondogs, freelances, and runs his own teaching studio, the Bohde Brass Studio, where he teaches trumpet, trombone, baritone/euphonium and tuba. Jason has more than 20 years of teaching and performing experience and teaches all ages and all styles of brass
playing. His studio is located within the Durham Jazz Workshop.
https://www.bohdebrassstudio.com/