Jason Lindner (Donny McCaslin Group)
Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia file page
Jason Lindner is an American keyboardist, composer, and electronic musician who became part of David Bowie’s final band through his membership in the Donny McCaslin Group.
Lindner contributed keyboards and electronic textures to Blackstar (2016), Bowie’s final studio album, and participated in the intense, exploratory sessions that defined Bowie’s last creative chapter.
- Name: Jason Lindner
- Role: Keyboards, synthesisers, electronics
- Group: Donny McCaslin Group
- With Bowie: 2014–2016
- Key album: Blackstar (2016)
- Era: Final studio period
Where Jason Lindner fits in Bowie’s timeline
Jason Lindner enters Bowie’s story at its very end. After decades of stylistic reinvention, Bowie turned toward the contemporary New York jazz scene for his final project.
Rather than working with veteran rock musicians, Bowie deliberately chose the Donny McCaslin Group—musicians deeply rooted in modern jazz, improvisation, and electronic experimentation.
The Donny McCaslin Group
The Donny McCaslin Group was known for its aggressive, rhythmically complex, and genre-blurring approach, drawing equally from jazz, rock, electronica, and avant-garde music.
Jason Lindner’s role within the group was central: his keyboards and electronic processing helped shape the band’s dense, restless sound.
Blackstar: Bowie’s final collaboration
On Blackstar, Lindner contributed to an album that defied expectations, merging jazz improvisation with industrial textures, fractured rhythms, and stark emotional weight.
Bowie gave the musicians significant freedom, encouraging them to bring their own language into the sessions rather than imitate previous Bowie styles. Lindner’s electronic and harmonic sensibilities are woven throughout the album.
Studio work and live performance
Although Bowie did not tour in support of Blackstar, the McCaslin group, including Lindner, performed the material live independently after Bowie’s death, presenting it as a continuation of the project’s musical spirit.
These performances underscored how deeply Bowie had integrated the band’s identity into his final work.
Why this collaboration mattered
Jason Lindner represents Bowie’s final leap forward. At a time when many artists look backward, Bowie sought out musicians who embodied the present and the future of experimental music.
Through collaborators like Lindner, Bowie ensured that his final statement was not nostalgic, but challenging, modern, and alive.
Beyond Bowie
Outside the Bowie universe, Jason Lindner is known for his own projects and collaborations, including work with his band Now vs Now, and as a highly respected figure in New York’s experimental jazz scene.
His involvement with Blackstar brought this underground world into direct contact with one of popular music’s most influential figures.