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Jay Thomas Quartet: Upside
by Paul Rauch
Seattle-based musician Jay Thomas may be considered the oddest of ducks in the jazz universe. By that, I am referring to his fierce musicality expressed both on trumpet and saxophone, as well as most members of the brass and woodwind families. Inspired early in his career by the like minded veteran Ira Sullivan, Thomas in a single night will drift from trumpet to tenor, from flugelhorn to alto, and then double back on flute and soprano. He may as well ...
read moreJay Thomas and Wataru Hamasaki: Accidentally Yours
by Jason West
Jay Thomas, Wataru Hamasaki, and Geoffrey Keezer divide the lion's share of jazz improvisation on this May, 2004 session taped at Ironwood Studios in Seattle, and while Thomas (a veteran Northwest trumpeter gaining international attention) and Keezer (whose resume includes stints with Art Farmer and Ray Brown) are well-established players, Hamasaki is a virtual unknown. Now here he is playing with the big boys, and making a big impression.
Thomas encountered Hamasaki on a recent sojourn to the land of ...
read moreJay Thomas: 12th and Jackson Blues: Live at the Cotton Club
by C. Michael Bailey
Blakey and Company. Multi-instrumentalist Jay Thomas was greatly influenced by the Hard Bop pioneered in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Foremost was the spell cast by Art Blakey and it is this influence that is most evident on 12th and Jackson Blues, where he plays like Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, and Wayne Shorter all rolled into one. A Hard Bop delight from start to finish.
A native of Seattle before it was know for grunge rock, Thomas, ...
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