For more than two decades, John Yao has been one of the premier trombonists, composers, and arrangers on the New York City jazz scene. A 2025 Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition, he has regularly earned a place in both the Rising Star Trombone and Rising Star Big Band categories of the DownBeat Critics Poll.

As a leader, Yao has released seven recordings, including his most recent album, Points in Time, a DownBeat Editor's Pick and one of the magazine's Best of 2025. As a trombonist, he has performed with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and New York Afro-Bop Alliance, among many others, and appears on more than two dozen recordings.

Yao has composed and arranged more than 200 works, ranging from small-group pieces for his quintet and Triceratops band to large-scale works for his big band, John Yao and His 17-Piece Instrument. He has been commissioned to write for professional and educational ensembles in the US and abroad, including the Grammy-winning Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, the New York Afro-Bop Alliance Big Band, Zurich Jazz Orchestra, UMO Jazz Orchestra, and JMI World Jazz, based in Zagreb, Croatia. His big band works are published and available for purchase through Ejazzlines, Ijazzmusic, Sheet Music Plus, and Sheet Music Direct.

An in-demand educator, Yao is Assistant Professor of Trombone at Queens College and is on the faculty at Molloy University. He has previously taught at Berklee College of Music, Temple University, Manhattan School of Music, and Boston University, and is an XO Brass Clinician and an active guest artist at colleges and universities in the US and abroad. His article "Writing for Trombone" appeared in the March 2026 issue of DownBeat. He also runs a private online studio, mentoring composition and arranging students around the world.