For almost twenty years, John Yao has been honing his talents as a trombonist, composer and arranger, and cementing his place on the New York City jazz scene. Yao’s lyrical soloing and expressive, round tone, combined with his relentless drive to push the boundaries of harmony and rhythm, have established him as a unique and forward-thinking jazz talent.   All About Jazz declared, “Boldly diverse, Yao's compositions cut across the swath of contemporary jazz's field.”  The New York City Jazz Record proclaimed his latest recording Off-Kilter (See Tao Recordings, 2022) “a program using firmly flexible architecture to encourage audacious exploration” and that “John Yao’s Triceratops may be off-kilter, but is also remarkably on point.”  In 2023, Yao earned a place in the Rising Star Trombone and Rising Star Big Band categories in the Downbeat Critics Poll. 

Masterfully leading and composing the music for both his large and small ensemble, Yao has released five albums as a leader.  John Yao Quintet’s debut album In the Now (Innova Recordings, 2012) followed by Presence (See Tao Recordings, 2017).  In between, Yao released his first big band album Flip Flop (See Tao Recordings, 2015) by John Yao and His 17-piece Instrument.  Downbeat magazine declared “[Flip-Flop] showcased Yao’s unpredictable compositions and inventive arrangements, which spring from tradition while pointing towards future portals.”  John Yao’s Triceratops albums How We Do (See Tao Recordings, 2019) and Off-Kilter (2022) have been called “complex, modernistic and updated, full of counterpoint, it’s very accessible and so much fun” by Hot House Jazz. 

As a trombonist, he has worked extensively as a sideman for Grammy-award winning ensembles, such as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and has also performed with Paquito D'Rivera, Eddie Palmieri, Danilo Perez, Kurt Elling, Chris Potter, Teo Macero, Buddy DeFranco, Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Lou Rawls, Manuel Valera’s New Cuban Express Big Band, Josh Shneider Orchestra and Bright Eyes among others.  He has played at many famous venues including Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard, Birdland, Smalls and the Kennedy Center. Internationally, he has played in Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, Austria, Peru, Brazil, the Netherlands and Switzerland.  Lucid Culture proclaims, “John Yao is one of New York’s elite trombonists and is also a first-class, ambitious, and witty composer and leader . . . a tuneful, epically inclined, cinematic trombonist.”

As a composer and arranger, John has been commissioned to write works for professional ensembles, such as the Grammy Award winning Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, Band of Bones, Luis Bonilla’s I Talking too Big Band and the HGM Big Band.  In 2022, he was commissioned by the Arsonore Spirit Orchestra (Graz, Austria) to write ten arrangements for a Black Lives Matter Concert.  In 2023, he was commissioned by trombonist Joseph Bowie to write six arrangements for his Defunkt big band.  He was a member of the BMI Jazz Composers workshop in 2012-14 under the guidance of Jim McNeely and Mike Holober.   His works have been performed by college and high school ensembles including Temple University, Indiana University, Iowa University, University of North Carolina, New Jersey City University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Binghamton University, HGM Orkestar in Zagreb, Croatia, New Trier High School and Townsend Harris High School. In addition, Yao writes for both educational and professional ensembles with over two dozen works published and available on ejazzlines.com, sheetmusic.com and ijazzmusic.com. 

Formed in 2014, John Yao and His-17-piece Instrument (JY-17 for short) has been a mainstay on the New York City jazz scene.  Yao serves as artistic director, composer, conductor and performer and the group features all his original compositions.  In 2015, the JY-17 held a monthly residency at the ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn, NY for six months.  Around that same time, he founded the Big Band & Beyond Concert Series featuring the JY-17 premiering new works for big band at each concert.  The series goal was to further new works in the big band genre and to offer a broad view of the possibilities of jazz composition.  Recently, the JY-17 recently recorded and has two albums forthcoming.  In addition, Yao writes for both educational and professional ensembles with over two dozen works published and available on ejazzlines.com, sheetmusic.com and ijazzmusic.com. 

An in-demand educator, Yao serves as Assistant Professor of Trombone at Berklee College of Music and Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and Adjunct Professor of Music at Molloy University. He is an active guest artist and soloist at colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad.