James has composed for Sasha Velour's shows Nightgowns, Smoke and Mirrors, One Dollar Drags and her cover of Weill and Brecht's “Pirate Jenny” from The Threepenny Opera. His collaborations with chanteuse Daphne Always resulted in a year long residency at Club Cumming, several shows at Joe's Pub and a Brooklyn Nightlife Award in 2018. Additionally, the duo also held a residency at the Laurie Beechman Theater for their original show By A Thread in 2022. He has music directed for drag queen Violinist Thorgy Thor in performances from Live at the Art House Provincetown to the Thorchestra at Gramercy Theater. James also arranges and plays for NYC based queer pop rock outfit Matt Krenz & the Divine, who recently released two singles, “I Hate Your Boyfriend” and “Make You My Lover” this past May. They are set to release their full length album "Fat Boy Ingénue" September 2024. His own songwriter pandemic pop project Casseo released two tracks in May 2021: “Doldrums” and “Manipulator”.​

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As a pianist and vocalist, James has performed in Carnegie's Weill and Zankel Recital Halls, The Rogers Auditorium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn's National Sawdust, Madison Square Garden, Irving Plaza, The Abrons Art Center, The NYU Skirball Center, The Brooklyn Bowl, The Laurie Beechman Theater and Bohemian National Hall. He is a also a frequent vocalist with the Schola Cantorum under the direction of James Wetzel.

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James is on faculty at the 92nd Street Y and the Diller-Quaile School of Music for their early childhood and instrumental vocal departments. Additionally, he has composed for the Living Arts Collaborative, where his original children's concerts The Story of Babar the Elephant, Old Macdonald Had a Band and Help Us Compose a Song! have traveled to over fifty school districts in the Adirondacks.

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James graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with a BM and MM in Classical Composition under the Jay Rubinton Scholarship.