Jon Hazilla has performed and/or recorded with many jazz luminaries: Jo Anne Brackeen, James Williams, John Hicks, Ran Blake, Ray Drummond, Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Billy Pierce, Larry Coryell, John Clayton, and Max Roach. He continues to perform in countless global festivals from the Azores to Costa Rica, Warsaw, Rome, Nice, Serbia, and Kyoto, to name a few. He is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music.

He received a National Endowment Award in 1987, The Robert Porter Memorial Advancement Award in Education from the American Federation of Teachers in 2002, a Berklee Fellowship Grant in 2006, and the Steelgrass Residency in Kauai, Hawaii in 2012.

Jon has produced eight CDs as a leader, and recorded over 45 more as a sideman. Berklee Press published his first book Mastering the Art of Brushes in 2002, and its second edition in 2017. His second book Rhythmic Reflections on Creative Teaching was published by Mosaic Eye Publishing in 2013 and Music as Therapy: Playful Healing with Percussion , Creativity, and Spirituality was released in 2019. Hal Leonard released his DVD Brush Control in 2008.

He is co-founder of “Jazz on Wheels,” a volunteer group of musicians that performs free concerts at Boston Public libraries for inner-city children. He was a mentor for the City Music Program, volunteered for Habitat for Humanity helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina, was music facilitator for Project COMMON BOND serving young adults from around the world who have experienced trauma, and is artistic coordinator for Peace by Piece, a community trauma outreach program in South Boston. He is a certified hospice volunteer for Aseracare Hospice. He was a Pastoral Associate at First Parish in Brookline (Unitarian Universalist) and taught in the Religious Exploration program. He has run over 45 marathons and one ultra, and has a PR of 2:38.

Jon is a professor at Berklee College of Music where he has taught since 1987. Jon’s natural gift for teaching keeps him in high demand in and around Boston and worldwide.