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Jon M. Waxman, Esq.

Attorney/Consultant/Producer for Jazz Industry

About Me





Jon M. Waxman, Esq. has been practicing entertainment law and managing artists in music, and television and film scoring for more than thirty-five years. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and is the author of ”Performance Rights in Sound Recordings,” published by The Texas Law Review and The Patent Law Review.



Jon's personal management clients have included, Bobby McFerrin, Carla Bley, Sylvia Simms, Astrid Gilberto, Jean-Michel Pilc, Joan Osborne, television and film composer, Michael Whalen and John Cafferty, composer and performer of the score for the motion picture, Eddie and the Cruisers.



As an attorney, Jon has represented a diverse range of artists and companies including Thelonious Monk, Gil Evans, Phil Woods, Jackie McLean, Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, Chucho Valdes, Regina Carter, Abbey Lincoln, Oscar Brown, Jr., Lizz Wright, Steve Turre, Fred Hersch, Jimmy Greene, Steve Wilson, Bob Dorough, The Jason Lindner Big Band, Claudia Acuna, Victor Wooten (Bela Fleck's Band), Bob Belden, Hal Willner, Lewis Nash, Armen Donnellian, John Faddis, Dave Valentin, Larry Coryell, John Abercrombie, Dom Minasi, Bob Berg, Dave Liebman, Marc Copland, Jason Miles, Randy Johnston, Kevin Hays, Steve Khan, Oregon, Mike Mainieri, Bob Mintzer, Cecil McBee, Eddie Gomez, Harvey Swartz, Ben Allison, Matthias Lupri, Al Grey, Jay Rodriguez, Richie Beirach, Jack Walrath, Warren Bernhardt, Steve Kuhn, Frank Kimbrough, Denny Zeitlin, Martial Solal, David Friesen, Kendra Shank, Barbara Sfraga, J.D. Walter, Vincent Herring, Carl Allen, Mike Abene, John Tropea, Sid McGuiness (David Letterman Band), Leon Pendarvis (Saturday Night Live Band), Chuck Rainey, Danny Barker, Illinois Jacquet, Bobby Vince Paunetto, Michael Cuscuna, Todd Barkan, Ettore Stratta and Pat Philips, Ray Passman, Burrill Crohn, George Avakian, and the Estate of Tommy Flannigan.



Also Ravi Shankar, Johnny Winter, Dickie Betts (Allman Bros. Band), Paul Pena (Genghis Blues, T-Bone Walker, “Jet Airliner”), Hassan Hakmoun (Real World Records, Peter Gabriel's label), Solas (Seamus Egan), Paris Combo, Manny Oquendo's Libre, Zachary Richard, Mayookh Bhaumik, Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan, Koko Taylor, The Blues Brothers, David Bromberg, The Saturday Night Live Band, Steve Smith (Journey, Vital Information), Tim Reynolds (Dave Matthews Band), Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart), Kenny G., The Feelies, The db's, Rick Chertoff, Rob Mounsey (Steely Dan), Elliot Scheiner (The Eagles, Steely Dan), Epiphany Project, Jellybean Benitez (Madonna), Unlimited Myles (Myles Weinstein), DL Media (Don Lucoff), Jazz Promo Services (Jim Eigo), Digi-Rom, Third Floor Media, Inc. / East/West Media, Inc. (Helene Greece), the Mary Lou Williams Foundation, The Harry Smith Archives of American Folk Music, the Montreux Jazz Festival for television broadcast, Alligator Records, Universal Music Jazz France, MAXJAZZ, Premonition Records, the Estate of Zoot Sims, the Estate of Shlomo Carlebach, Malandro Records, HiPnotic Records, Khaeon World Music, Jazz Magnet Records, Muse Records, Paul Winter's Living Music Records and Mugshot Magazine.



Jon began performing professionally as a musician in the early 1960's. At the invitation of master drummer, Art Blakey, Jon's band of 13 year-olds, Jonny Waxman and the Offbeats, performed at the famous jazz corner of the world, BIRDLAND. During the mid-1960's, Jon was signed as a recording artist to Columbia Records. Following his short-lived career as a rock star, he joined the marketing departments of Columbia and Epic Records as a product manager and worked with the legendary John Hammond on the original re-issue of the complete recordings of Bessie Smith and Robert Johnson.



While attending law school during the early 1970's, Jon worked as a correspondent for DownBeat Magazine and as a music writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. For CBS Records, he executive produced the first re-issue of the historic Candid Records label, featuring classic performances by such artists as Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Phil Woods, Booker Little, Booker Ervin, Abbey Lincoln, Lightnin' Hopkins and Otis Spann.



Jon has lectured on entertainment law at the New York and Benjamin Cardozo Schools of Law, the New School University Jazz and Contemporary Music Program, the Skidmore College Program for the Performing Arts, the Songwriters Guild and for the Knitting Factory’s distance learning program, JazzSchool. He served as moderator of the JazzTimes Convention’s Management Panel, was a member of the Legal Panel for the National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturers Convention (NAIRD), served as a Judge for the Mixx Magazine Indie Music Showcase, was a member of the Legal Panel for the Global Entertainment Summit, and has served as a moderator and panel member at several International Association of Jazz Educators Conventions.



He served for two consecutive terms on the Board of Governors and was an alternate trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), and has served for two consecutive terms on the Board of Governors for the New School University Jazz and Contemporary Music Program. He was also on the Board of Advisors and served as a consultant to the National Jazz Museum of Harlem, and is on the Board of Advisors for the Knitting Factory’s Knit Foundation for JazzSchool. He was a member of the International Association of Jazz Educators, the Universal Jazz Coalition, the Jazz Foundation of America, the World Music Institute, Afropop and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. Jon has also taken several musical sojourns to West and North Africa travelling those areas with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Habib Koite and numerous other world renowned African music artists.



During his spare time, he listens to music.

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