Jay Riley

I've spent my whole life playing other people's music and I always annoyed people because I never played it exactly as it was on the record. It's taken me 37 years to realise that I'm a Jazz musician and it is perfectly acceptable to do this! I love Jazz and it definitely ticks boxes for challenging me musically but I also love beautiful melodies and grooves that go on and on just because they sound 'great'! I also feel that music should be heartfelt and that its worth the risk of leaving yourself vulnerable. I was brought up to have an Englishman's stiff upper lip and it didn't do me any good. I use my music for cathartic release and to communicate that which I can not describe. My debut album explores the light and dark of the last 10 years of my life.

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