Jason G.M. Anderson

Jason G.M. Anderson is the Director of Jazz Studies at Osceola County School for the Arts in Kissimmee, Florida, where he oversees four jazz ensembles serving students in grades 7–12. Since joining OCSA in 2021, the program has reached five consecutive finalist appearances at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival, earning first-place honors in 2022, 2023, and 2026, second place in 2024, and third place in 2025. His students have also been selected for prestigious national and international programs including NYO Jazz, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, Vail Jazz Workshop, and YoungArts, and have received full scholarships and invitations to leading conservatories and universities such as The Juilliard School, Berklee College of Music, the Frost School of Music, and Temple University.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Anderson received a full-tuition scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music, where he studied with renowned saxophonists Bill Pierce, George Garzone, and Andy McGhee, as well as master woodwind pedagogue Joe Viola. Following college, he was selected by the U.S. Department of State and the Kennedy Center to serve as a Jazz Ambassador to North and West Africa, using performance and cultural exchange to promote greater awareness and appreciation of the jazz tradition.

As a performer, Anderson has toured with the Illinois Jacquet Big Band and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and has performed with artists including Natalie Cole, Ulysses Owens, Robert Glasper, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Cyrus Chestnut, Jimmy Greene, Jeremy Pelt, Miguel Zenón, Elliot Mason, Adam Rapa, and Ashlin Parker. He is also an accomplished arranger whose credits include the big-band arrangement for Christina Aguilera’s performance at the 2015 NBA All-Star Game. He continues to perform throughout the greater Central Florida area with his wife, jazz vocalist Monica Lynk Anderson, and his son, Xavier Lynk Anderson.

Throughout his career, Anderson has remained deeply committed to music education. Before coming to OCSA, he taught privately for more than fifteen years and served on the jazz faculties of Newark Academy and the New Jersey Youth Symphony. He is an active guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and advocate for rigorous, accessible jazz education. His teaching emphasizes not only musical excellence, but also discipline, responsibility, integrity, and the development of young musicians as thoughtful and purposeful human beings.