Jay Thomas

Life and Jazz Stories Jay Thomas

Jay Thomas looks back at his life playing jazz. From an early teenage jazz phenom in 60's Seattle, to musical and life adventures in New York, San Francisco, Japan, and back to Seattle, this book chronicles the ups and downs of a life without navigational control. Although sometimes precarious it also has a lot of humor and life. Active addiction isn't always pretty. Jay Thomas has a thousand stories, and they are the stuff of a jazz life, which he has lived to the fullest for over 55 years-sometimes for better, sometimes worse. The book explores his fall into addiction and the roadmap to his recovery, and how under these difficult situations Jay was still able to forge ahead musically. So, this is really a primer on how a working, recording, and teaching musician makes a living in jazz. For readers of this book, especially musicians, Jay talks about the music recording industry, high school jazz programs, cruise ship gigs, and jazz opportunities in Japan. All in all, an inspiring story of a musician who never lost his love for music. Jay appears on 100s of recordings and his relationship in these musical situations with the famous and the infamous are springboards for many of his stories. Of the famous; Machito, Slim Gaillard, Chet Baker, Herb Ellis, Billy Higgins, Cedar Walton, George Braith, Conti Condoli, Roy Hargrove, and Elvin Jones. Throw in Jay's involvement in the N. W. musical scene in the 6os and 70s, and include his 23-year membership in one of Japan's top jazz organizations and that adds another layer of interesting tales.