Sharp Circle Band

As one of the founding members of Sharp Circle and in charge of holding down the low-end in the group is Jason Monro.

Jason was born in Ann Arbor (still a Buckeyes fan) but grew up in Solon, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. An avid Cleveland sports enthusiast, Jason realized at a young age that PLAYING sports was not his forte and that he should focus his hobbies elsewhere. Luckily for him, music came naturally at a young age. Beginning with piano lessons (which he hated) his tastes grew and played a few different instruments (including saxophone) on his pathway which ultimately led him to the bass. In fact, one day in 7th grade he and his close friends decided that they wanted to start a rock band. Unfortunately for Jason, he was excluded in the conversation in which everyone decided to choose their instrument. Naturally, the bass was the last choice and kind of fell into his lap without him actually making a choice. Interestingly enough, the bass seems to define his personality quite well.

Although jazz was something that Jason was interested in playing even in high school he wasn't allowed to participate in the high school jazz band (or even try-out) because he wasn't in the marching band. That didn't stop him from still studying jazz in his private lessons and ultimately going to Capital University specifically to study jazz and audio production.

Jason studied and played with many great players while at Capital University from 1999-2003. His primary instructor, Dr. Lou Fischer, has a wealth of performance and recording experience and was an exceptional teacher. He also studied with Sidney Townsend and Dr. Mark Morton (principal player in the Columbus symphony). He was lucky enough to play with piano virtuoso Shelley Berg and the great drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler who played drums on "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson among others.

Jason has a wealth of playing and recording experience over the years. One of Jason's solo electric bass compositions "Moving On" was selected to be in the October '03 edition of JazzIz magazine. They gave quite a nice review of the piece that he wrote and recorded himself and it was one of the highlights of his career thus far. Throughout most of 2006 Jason played on the Carnival Cruise ship called the "Fascination". He was the bass player for Matthew James Murphy (original cast member of "Rent" on Broadway, "Dudez Aplenti" on Conan O'Brien, and wrote the song "Hold Your Dreams" for the motion picture "Fame", to be released later in '09) which netted him shows such as the Bitter End club in New York City and performing live for Mitch Albom's national radio program.

Some of Jason's biggest bass influences are (not in any particular order) Victor Wooten, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Jon Patitucci, Oteil Burbridge and Marcus Miller to name a few. Some of his favorite jazz artists include Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau, Michele Camillo, Count Basie & Ella Fitzgerald. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't stay true to his roots of rock. If you were to look at his iTunes playlist you'd find everything from Bon Jovi, (which he does a mean karaoke) Queen, Guns & Roses, to Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright and Paul Simon.

Aside from Sharp Circle, you may see Jason playing around town in Rick Brunetto's big band, doing a jazz duo with Tom Davis or doing some gigs at Dick's Den here or there. He also performs in the 456 trio with Pete (pc) and Aaron Bishara. He has been frequently hired to record on various projects at beautiful Earthwork Studios in Newark, Ohio. Most notably and recently, he is very proud to be a part of an upcoming artist's new record called "Long Live the Ashes" by Kevin Dean (www.longlivetheashes.com). Click on the link below that will take you to iTunes to listen or purchase the music.

Jason would encourage you to come out to see a Sharp Circle show because he believes that the quality of musicianship in the band is second to none. One of his quotes describing the band, "It amazes me that we can play some of the same tunes night after night and they don't get boring", is a testament to the quality of Sharp Circle.

Jason has a number of basses and amps, but on any given night you're most likely to see him playing his new Fodera Standard-Monarch 4-string bass. From time to time he may bring out his 5-string fretless Tobias or his 6-string Carvin if the mood strikes him. Jason uses Gallien Krueger amps and Dean Markley Blue Steel bass strings.