Many of the details of John Adson's life remain unclear, but it is known that this wind player was active in several performance ensembles. After playing in the service of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (1604 - 1608), he was in London, in 1613, becoming a member of the English court band (1925). Records show that he occupied his time with multiple commitments in the 1630s; he became a royal wind musician in 1633 and also commenced a long affiliation with the King's theater company around that time. Then, in 1634, only a few years before his death, he was appointed music instructor to Charles I. He wrote a few corants and dozens of dance airs, most of which were published in a collection entitled Courtly Masquing Ayres (1st ed. 1611, 2nd ed. 1622). He died around the age of 60, and was buried in the parish that he and his wife, Jane, had settled in nearly three decades earlier. Selections of the aforementioned publication have been recorded on occasion and released by Meridian, Auvidis Astrée, and Capriccio.