I grew up in San Diego, and began my music instruction under the legendary band director Jon Riksford. In high school, I became more interested in trumpet after a summer at Tanglewood Institute, and two summers playing with the SeaWorld Sea Stars band.
I went to Boston University to study trumpet with Roger Voisin. I won a BU chamber music competition. In Boston, I played with the New England Philharmonic, and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and earned an International Trumpet Guild conference scholarship. Being in Boston allowed me to observe classes and sit in with ensembles at the New England Conservatory, Berklee School of Music, the Boston Conservatory, and Harvard.
I earned a Master in Music from Yale University. While at Yale, I performed the Brandenburg trumpet concerto twice, and was a guest soloist on Gunther Schuller's "Journey into Jazz" with the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra. At this time, I became interested in music outside of the classical concert hall. I made frequent trips to New York City to study and play, and had the opportunity to sit in with the Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Big Band at Birdland. I was a founding member of Yale's resident party band Sonido Unidad salsa band, and played and recorded with the AfroBeat band Aqua Ife. I also played with the rock band Mighty Purple, which led to my lending a trumpet solo to "Lovelay" which can be heard on Jonny Rodgers' album "Aviary". I also arranged a mambo for salsa band with symphony orchestra, which was performed by Sonido Unidad and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. I sang in the Yale Collegium Musicum, a choir dedicated to historically acurate performances of early choral music.
I became increasingly interested in connecting music to films and visuals. I collaborated with photographer and video artist Liena Vayzman for performances in New York and Rhode Island. I also composed the score, wrote, directed, and performed a short film "Brass. To the Moon", which premiered at the Beinecke Rare Book Library. While teaching at two schools for the arts, in order to get my music theory students more excited in class, I had them create short movies with original soundtracks. The students then filmed the videos themselves and performed all the music they wrote. That summer, I taught score writing and filmmaking to New Haven middle school students. My Yale graduate recital was a multimedia project that foused on trumpet with organ repertoire, with poetry and visual art, which led to a recital at St. Paul's in Philadelphia.
I currently live in San Diego, where I have played with the San Diego Symphony, Orchestra Nova, and the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra. I also am a member of the Cuban Band Combo Libertad, and recently opened for Poncho Sanchez. I am the brass instructor at Southwestern College, and Coronado School for the Arts. At these schools and others, I have taught a variety of music classes, including composition, sightsinging, music appreciation, world music, jazz history, and beginning through advanced music theory. I am endorsed by octobrass - a cool new buzzing and practicing device - check it out! at http://chasonsmusic.com/fr_chasonsmusic.cfm 
