Jon Hamar is a versatile artist whose ability to find a tasteful, unique voice in any musical situation has made him a staple in the music scene.
Jon earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Double Bass Performance from Eastern Washington University under the tutelage of Russian bassist Roma Vayspapir. While in Spokane Hamar performed with the Spokane Symphony and the Bob Curnow Big Band. Hamar continued on to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where he graduated with a Master’s degree in Jazz and Contemporary Media in 2001. While at Eastman Jon studied with Jeff Campbell and James VanDemark and worked closely with Harold Danko, Fred Sturm and Clay Jenkins.
In 2012 Jon joined the faculty at the Centrum Jazz Workshop under Artistic Director John Clayton and in 2015 joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee. Hamar is currently Assistant Professor of Bass, Jazz and Classical at the Nathalie L. Haslam School of Music at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Jon began performing with the Jeff Hamilton Trio in July of 2018 and in the same year toured Europe with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Jeff Hamilton and John Clayton featuring renowned vocalist Cecil McLaren Salvant.
You can hear Jon with the Jeff Hamilton Trio on the 2020 release “Catch Me if you Can”. This album was rated number 25 in the top 100 albums of 2020 by Jazz Week and listed as one of the top albums of 2020 by Downbeat magazine. The most recent Jeff Hamilton Trio album is a holiday release entitled “Merry and Bright”, released in November 2021 on the Capri Record Label.
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