Born into a musical family, Jake Whitla composes and performs in Toronto. Starting on piano at age 6, he switched to saxophone and jazz in high school and hasn’t looked back. Currently studying at York University, Jake holds the Oscar Peterson Scholarship. There he plays in the Oscar Peterson Ensemble and lead alto in the York University Big Band. Outside of school, he teaches and performs at venues around Toronto. Raised on prog rock and metal and with a deep love for these types of music, Jake creates music with his father who started a YouTube juggernaut, Howdytoons, that makes animated music videos in styles ranging from jazz to metal. Jake’s first published composition, “The Kraken,” published on YouTube in 2022, and has received over 3 million streams. His personal music is released under the name Jake Django, and is a unique fusion of his influences. He has released one song and hopes to release two more in the summer of 2024.