Piano Lessons in Jupiter

James Delano grew up on a major throughway in the Hudson valley that leads directly down to Broadway in Manhattan. At age five, on the way to the barber shop, James heard a Phil Woods alto saxophone solo on a Billy Joel track. That led to him starting on the alto saxophone at age eight. He played his first gig at the Bitter End when he was twelve, followed by a residency at Sweet Rhythm, formerly known as Sweet Basil. At age eighteen and nineteen he played twice at the Blue Note Jazz Club and twice at WBGO Jazz Radio Station with the musical director of Saturday Night Live and former tenor saxophonist for Tower Of Power, Lenny Pickett. He performed in rehearsal bands and studied privately with Lenny, John Scofield and Chris Potter during his undergraduate degree at New York University. He often credits Sonny Stitt and Thelonious Monk as his earliest jazz influences. From a young age James took to transcribing their solos.

Since then James has taught himself several other instruments and formed his own wedding band in New York City and the East End of Long Island, played various residencies as a singing pianist and has also been part of many projects as a side-man. He worked for several management companies performing private events throughout the greater New York City area and New England. He relocated to New Orleans for some jazz residencies at the Royal Frenchmen Hotel. When the music program took an indefinite hiatus there, he relocated to South Florida to be closer to his family.

He has been teaching lessons for the past seventeen years. James is a composer of both instrumental and lyrical tunes, having composed over fifty tunes.

James has been teaching saxophone, flute, clarinet, piano and voice in Florida since January 2026 and has had anywhere from 11 to 15 weekly students during his time teaching in Palm Beach County.