Jay Pettit (he/him) has so far committed over a decade to concert saxophone performance.

Born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Pettit is the proud product of low-income, inner-city schools and is passionate about making classical concert music accessible and engaging to a wide variety of audiences. Pettit also takes particular interest in the performance of works by composers from historically marginalized communities, which led to his establishment of the Lubbock Saxophone Collective, an artist collective focused on the commissioning and performance of new, diverse works for the saxophone. 

Pettit earned his Bachelor of Music Education (B.M.E.) degree at Ball State University, then pursued his Master of Music (M.M.) degree in saxophone performance at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he served as the graduate teaching assistant for the musicology area until 2024. 

Pettit is currently working on completing his Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree in saxophone performance and graduate certificate in Arts Entrepreneurism at Texas Tech University where he serves as a graduate teaching assistant for the music theory area.

His primary teachers of saxophone include Dr. Nathan Bogert, Dr. Bob Eason, and Prof. David Dees.