Raymond James Mason is a trombonist who freelances in the New York City Area.  Born and raised on Long Island, Raymond took to the trombone from a young age and soon moved to NYC to study both classical performance and jazz studies at NYU.  After studying with luminaries such as Brian Lynch, Lenny Pickett, Alan Ferber, and Elliot Mason, Raymond found himself in demand as an artist in a myriad of genres.  

For the last five years, Raymond has played trombone with Antibalas, a Brooklyn-based afrobeat group on Daptone Records who has been bringing their music inspired by Fela Kuti and Eddie Palmieri across the globe for eighteen years.  He has also become the In-House Trombonist for Daptone Records and Dunham Records, lending his talents to recordings for the late Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, the late Charles Bradley, Menahan Street Band, Lee Fields & The Expressions, and many more.

Raymond is also the trombonist for the GRAMMY award winning Pop/Country band Lady Antebellum.  He began playing with the band in January 2017 and accompanied them on their You Look Good World Tour the summer of 2017 which took him all over the US, Canada, and Europe.  This summer he will continue with Lady Antebellum, joining them on the Summers On Tour with Darius Rucker.  Working with Lady A has allowed Raymond to play at stadiums and venues all over the world, including performing with a 50 piece marching band at the ACM Awards in Vegas and with Earth, Wind & Fire at the CMA Awards in Nashville.

Raymond also played trombone with pop icon Taylor Swift in support of her single "Shake it Off" and new album "1989" while in the same year performing on the 2016 GRAMMY Award winning Record of the Year, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars.

At age 28, Raymond has already performed or recorded with some of the biggest names in the music industry.  In addition to the aforementioned artists, he's also lent his talents to:

Alicia Keys, David Byrne, Randy Newman, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Arcade Fire, Meghan Trainor, Ed Sheeran, Janelle Monae, Lukas Graham, Nile Rodgers, Kevin Parker (Tame Impala), Maren Morris, Earth, Wind & Fire, Mark Ronson, Craig Finn (The Hold Steady), Angelique Kidjo, Bastille, Santigold, Dr. John, Michael McDonald, Don Henley, Aloe Blacc, Boy George, Queen Latifah, Peter Gabriel, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, George Clinton, Martin Short, Maya Rudolph, Barry Gibb, Weezer, My Morning Jacket, Nas, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Esperanza Spalding, Deer Tick, Cage The Elephant, Hoodie Allen,  Dan Auerbach (The Arcs), The String Cheese Incident, Bob Mould, Mike Gordon (Phish), Michelle Williams (Destiny's Child), Abigail Washburn, The Mingus Big Band and many more.

Raymond wears Ultimate Ears UE7 In-Ear Monitors on all gigs where a monitor speaker just isn't enough.  And their team is so nice! YES!