Justin James studied music privately from his father Chuck James, a professional musician who played with jazz greats Gene Harris, Trummy Young, Betty Lou Taylor, Dave Liebman, Gabe Baltazar, and many others. At age 19 Justin received a full scholarship from Hawaii Pacific University in the jazz program, and received a B.A. in Business Management.
After completing his university education, Justin began managing the family-run business, and also became the head percussion instructor at CJ music Studio. Justin’s professional performance career has seen him performing with several artists of renown including Nadira Shakoor (Arrested Development), Jack Johnson, Paula Fuga, Micah Nine, Stafford Hunter, Efrem Towns (Dirty Dozen Brass Band), David Yamasaki, Anita Hall, Keahi Conjugation, Deshannon Higa, Abe Lagrimas Jr., Henry Young (Nina Simone), and many more. Before leaving Hawaii, Justin lead a modern jazz/funk group known as the Newjass Quartet, which performed in and around Honolulu and on the West Coast.
Now 31 years old and recently relocated to Vancouver, B.C., Justin has several new projects in the works.
