James holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from VIU and has studied piano with Phil Dwyer, Bob Murphy and Steve Smith.

He has spent a decade working on cruise ships in lounge bands and showbands.

More recently James has been the keyboardist of the high energy dance band Johnny Inappropriate, the pianist for VIU’s Vocal Jazz Choir directed by Rosemary Lindsay and is the organist with the Duncan Symonds Trio.