Norman Mason was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 multi-instrumentalist and bandleader

Bandleader

A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....

.

Mason grew up in the Bahamas and began playing trumpet at age eight, as did his brother Henry Mason

Henry Mason

Henry Mason was one of the co-founders of the American piano manufacturer Mason and Hamlin.He was the son of American church music composer Lowell Mason, and the brother of composer William Mason.-Notes:...

. He toured with revues such as the Rabbit Foot Minstrel Show while still in his teens, and soon after became active on the New Orleans jazz

New Orleans Jazz

New Orleans Jazz may refer to:*Dixieland, a style of jazz music*New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park*Utah Jazz, a professional National Basketball Association franchise that was previously based in New Orleans and known as the New Orleans Jazz, in recognition of the jazz music of New Orleans*A...

 scene. Soon after he played in bands in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and St. Louis.

At the end of the 1910s Mason played with Fate Marable

Fate Marable

Fate Marable was a jazz pianist and bandleader.Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky, and learned piano from his mother. At age 17, he began playing on the steam boats plying the Mississippi River...

, where he began playing alto saxophone. Toward the beginning of the next decade, Mason was a member of Ed Allen

Ed Allen (musician)

Ed Allen was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist.Allen's family moved to St. Louis, Missouri when he was seven; he began playing piano at age ten and settled on cornet soon after. He worked as a truck driver in his teens and played in military bands...

's Whispering Gold Band, and soon after led his own ensemble, the Carolina Melodists (though they had no actual connection to North

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 or South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

). From 1927 to 1933 Mason returned to duty under Marable, and after leaving his employ Mason began playing clarinet in Chicago and St. Louis bands.

He lived in St. Louis for the next several decades, playing often with Singleton Palmer

Singleton Palmer

Singleton Palmer was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and bandleader....

, but his career ended in 1969 after a stroke

Stroke

A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

.