Jason Crane

Jason Crane is a jazz broadcaster, podcaster and writer. He’s a union organizer. He’s a husband and father. And he rides a bicycle.

Jason hosts the weekly jazz interview show The Jazz Session, featuring in-depth interviews with jazz musicians from around the world.

Jason was born in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1973. He’s moved 27 times since then, including stints in Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Japan.

Jason’s first professional career was as a saxophonist. He performed from Tucson to Tokyo to South Carolina. It was in Tucson in 1996 that Jason met and married his wife, Jennifer. Jason and Jennifer’s first son, Bernie, was born in November 2002. Their second son, John, was born in March 2006.

Jason speaks Japanese because he spent three years in Japan, first as a student, then as an editor, journalist and musician.

Jason’s radio career began at the State University of New York at Potsdam in 1991, followed by gigs at KUAZ (jazz) and KUAT (classical) in Tucson, AZ; Bloomberg Information Television & Radio in Tokyo; NPR’s Morning Edition; and WXXI in Rochester, NY.

From late 2001 to late 2004, Jason worked at Jazz90.1 (WGMC), a 24-hour community jazz station in Rochester, NY, where he served as station manager and hosted the PM drive show Traffic Jam. He also interviewed more than 200 of the great names in jazz.

While in Rochester, Jason chaired the local Green Party; announced vintage baseball games; ran for city council; co-founded the Rochester Restraint Coalition; and staged a 53-person reading of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” He served as vice president of the board at Abundance Cooperative Market and leader of the 24th LD Democratic Committee. He also hosted The Jason Crane Show, a weekly progressive talk show that aired in 2005 on Rochester’s Air America Radio affiliate.

Since 2005, Jason has been an organizer for the labor union UNITE HERE. In November, 2007, he moved to Albany, NY, to work in UNITE HERE’s Albany District office. He helps hotel and food service workers organize and strengthen the union in the Capital Region.

Jason serves on the Parents Panel of the Albany Times Union newspaper. In April 2008, he was elected to the board of the New York Bicycling Coalition.

Jason is the founder and editor of RocBike.com (Rochester) and FortOrangeCycling.com (Albany), online gathering places for bike commuters and other cyclists in those cities.

Last but not least, Jason writes interviews and reviews for All About Jazz, the world’s most visited jazz site, and for The Island Packet newspaper on Hilton Head Island, SC.