JAY THOMAS IS ONE OF THE BEST KEPT SECRETS IN THE NORTHWEST.

Jay Thomas, a native of Seattle, is a versatile multi-instrumentalist (trumpet, flugelhorn, alto, tenor, soprano, and flutes). He is a consummate craftsman and an emotionally charged improviser. Anyone who has encountered Jay's music during his 50-odd-year career will testify to numerous qualities synonymous with the heart of jazz.

Jay grew up in the fertile atmosphere of Seattle's '60s jazz scene. Playing in clubs such as the "HOE" (House of Entertainment), the Black and Tan, and the Llahngaelhyn figured prominently in Jay's early years of trial and error music-making. While still in high school, he was the recipient of two DownBeat scholarships (summer and one full year) to the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

In 1968 Jay moved from Boston to New York, where he worked and studied for several years. Highlights include gigging for a summer with Machito's Latin band, recording for James Moody on the Perception label, and taking private lessons with Carmine Caruso.

Through the mid-seventies, he lived and played in the Bay Area, where he met and played with numerous musicians, including Jessica Williams. Twenty years later, Jay played on three of Jessica's recordings. During this time in S.F., Jay added flute and saxophone to his repertoire.

Jay moved back to Seattle in 1978 and became a frequent member of the house band at Parnell's Jazz Club, working engagements with jazz artists George Cables, Charles McPherson, Bill Mays, Ralph Penland, Harold Land, and Slim Gaillard.

Jay is on over 100 CDs, including 21 as leader or co-leader. Jay has also recorded with many heavy-weight players, most notably Cedar Walton, Billy Higgins, Ray Brown, and Elvin Jones. Jay's first two CDs, Easy Does It on Discovery Records and Blues For McVouty on Stash Records, featured Cedar Walton and Billy Higgins. 360 Degrees on Hep Records and Rapture on Jazz Focus continued to establish Jay's reputation. Jay's later CDs from McVouty Records alternated between live and studio recordings, and all have the feel of the clubs where Jay was first baptized into the world of jazz. Jay recorded with Herb Ellis on Roll Call and with Bud Shank on, On the Trail. The Bud Shank CD was Conti Condoli's last recording. Jay plays tenor and soprano sax in a sextet setting with Conti, Bill Mays piano, Joe LaBarbera drums, Bob Magnuson bass, and Bud Shank on alto. Two recordings have Jay teamed up with jazz greats, Ray Brown (Blues for Dexter, Wolfetones Records) and Elvin Jones (Jones for Elvin, Hip City Records). His three most current CDs feature; Matt Wilson, Gary Smulyan, and Yuki Hirate. Also of note is Jay's recording with the Oliver Groenewald NewNet, I Always Knew, released on Origin Records.

Jay's distinctive sound is on many commercials and a few film scores. Reviews and articles on Jay have appeared in many jazz magazines and newspapers, including the LA Times, Seattle Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Jazz Times, Jazz Player, Jazz Now, Japan Swing Journal, and International Jazz Journal.

Jay has given clinics and performed in clubs and festivals throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Europe, China, and Japan. He has played festivals at Wolf Trap with Red Rodney and Ira Sullivan, the Aspen Jazz Festival with Herb Ellis, Jake Hanna, and Mel Ryne (recorded with them on Roll Call), the du Maurier Jazz Festival with Chuck Israels, and with the Jay Thomas Quartet. Jay toured Great Britain with jazz legend Slim Gaillard, recording there with Slim, Jay McShann, and Buddy Tate. In 2002, Jay traveled to Europe, with the Bud Shank Sextet featuring Plas Johnson.

In Japan, Jay has been a member of two of the top jazz bands, one for over 25 years. He joins them once or twice a year, playing concerts, recording, and teaching clinics. Jay is a founding member of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and has been with them for 25 years. Jay is now on the staff of three national jazz camps, Centrum being the most prestigious. He is the leader/co-leader of numerous small groups, his organ trio, and his piano, bass, and drums quartet. Jay also has a Neo- Boogaloo Hard Bop band called "The Cantaloupes."

Awards include "Jazz Artist Deserving Wider Recognition" in Downbeat, a one-year scholarship to Berklee School of Music, and Earshot Musician of the Year in '96 and '98. Jay was Earshot Jazz Festival's "Artist in Residence" for 2019 and one of 20 US musicians given the Jazz Journalists Association's "2020 Jazz Heroes" Award.

Jay is involved with passing the music on to future generations and is an active educator. Jay often does clinics at Universities in the US and Japan. Jay had the honor to be selected to teach the University of Washington "Lab Jazz Big Band" for two years. He also spent ten years teaching bands at Garfield High School, a consistent winner of the Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center. He was an adjunct teacher at the Cornish School of Music, teaching trumpet, saxophone, and improvisation.

He is currently a faculty member at Centrum Jazz Camp in Port Townsend, the University of Washington Jazz Camp, the Cornish Summer Camp, a weekly Jazz Night School class, and a new "Hard Bop" camp with trumpeter, teacher Michael VanBebber.

Jay has a sound characterized by warmth, lyricism, and rhythmic drive — and he's funky! Hear him when you can. You won't be disappointed.

Read Jay’s bio “in his own words”