"I remember when I was a kid I made a kit out of a bunch of boxes, buckets, hubcaps, and whatever else I could find in my grandfather's backyard. Man…that was a great kit!'
Jason "JT' Thomas began playing at age 3. By the age of 7, he was playing at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. He grew up in Weatherford, Texas. In a talent show at Sam Houston Elementary School, JT caught the attention of the Weatherford High School percussion teacher who was also the jazz band director. Because he made such a strong impression, the director invited him to come out and rehearse and on occasion perform with them.
At age 16, he began playing with local gospel groups around town and soon after with local Top 40 groups in and out of town. The exposure of playing around town gave him the opportunity to travel internationally, performing all over Asia and Indonesia for the Grand Hyatt Hotels and famed jazz club Jamz, where jazz greats such as Chick Corea, Bob James and many more had performed.
In between touring, JT keeps a busy schedule of playing at church, with different Top 40 bands, jazz trios and doing session work. In this day and age. being extremely versatile is a requirement and one of the main attributes that keeps JT's phone ringing and calendar filled! "I love and play a lot of different styles of music, and when I'm hired for something in particular, I'll give 200%, change my set-up, the way I sit, etc. … whatever it takes to give the song what it needs and more. Anything less is unacceptable for me. No faking or cheating the music allowed!'
"I thank God for the talents he so graciously blessed me with and for all of the musicians who have helped shape my musical sound and direction. For every good, bad, and ugly time I've had on a gig, I'm grateful for them because I've learned so much from all of those experiences and I am anxiously eager to have many more. I'm truly blessed to make a living doing what I love to do, making beautiful music!'
