Jessy J
Encyclopedia
Jessy J is an American musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 in the contemporary jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....

 music genre.

Biography

Jessy J is Mexican-American. Her father is from Mexico and her mother is a native Texan. She was born in Portland, Oregon and raised in Hemet, California. She began playing piano at the age of four. At the age of 15, at the Bela Bartok Festival, she won the Piano State Championship. Not only a championship pianist, Jessy J played saxophone in state honored bands, such as the Grammy Band, and played internationally in festivals like the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. Earning a scholarship to University of Southern California, she obtained a degree in jazz studies and was named the "Most Outstanding Jazz Student". After graduating from USC, she worked in the studio with Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was...

. She toured with The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

, Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Ann Simpson is an American recording artist, actress, television personality, and fashion designer whose rise to fame began in 1999. Since that time, Simpson has achieved many recording milestones, starred in several television shows, movies, and commercials, launched a line of hair and...

 and Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...

, who she still occasionally tours with. Jessy J also performed as a member of the Henry Mancini Jazz Orchestra.

Prior to being a studio musician and touring as a jazz artist, Jessy J performed on the cast of the Off-Broadway play Blast! She performed not only as a saxophonist and singer but also as actress and dancer. Touring with Blast! took her across the U.S., to the United Kingdom and Japan.

Jessy J's recording career began after producer/guitarist Paul Brown listened to her demo and gave her a spot on his tour. She soon began making solo appearances. Her first major solo performance was at the Catalina JazzTrax Festival in 2006. Soon afterward, she and Paul Brown were in the studio recording her first album, Tequila Moon
Tequila Moon
Tequila Moon is the first studio album from Peak Records recording artist Jessy J. It includes the Billboard Jazz #1 song "Tequila Moon"...

.

Since beginning her career, she has toured with other jazz artists, such as Jeff Lorber
Jeff Lorber
Jeff Lorber is an American Grammy Award-nominated keyboardist, composer, and record producer.After leading his own group, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, he went on to pioneer the smooth jazz genre....

, Jeff Golub
Jeff Golub
Jeff Golub is an American jazz guitarist.- Biography :Jeff Golub is a contemporary jazz guitarist with 11 solo albums and 3 CD's as the leader of the instrumental band "Avenue Blue"...

, Euge Groove
Euge Groove
Steven Eugene Grove , better known as Euge Groove, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist with a strong Top-40 background....

, and Paul Brown. Since 2008, she has been a part of the Guitars & Saxes tour.

Jessy J has built up a Latin following, lending her hand in Hispanic music programs and performing with the Hispanic Musician Association Orchestra. Jessy J had the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall as part of the Latin Jazz Project. She has also worked in Mexico with artists Gloria Trevi
Gloria Trevi
Gloria Trevi is a Mexican pop-rock singer-songwriter. She was described as the "Supreme Diva of the Mexican Pop" by the music channel VH1 and sold over 20 million records.-Biography:...

 (known as the Madonna of Mexico) and Armando Manzanero
Armando Manzanero
Armando Manzanero Canché is a Mexican musician and composer of Maya descent, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the most successful composers of Latin America....

 (whom she calls "the Mancini of Mexico").

Her song "Tequila Moon" hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Jazz chart. Her song "Tropical Rain", from her 2009 release, reached the top of the Groove Jazz Music chart and also took the #1 spot on the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown, as well as the R&R and Billboard Jazz charts.

In 2008 she was named Radio and Records "Debut Artist of the Year". She also received the "Contemporary Jazz Song of the Year" award from R&R and Billboard for her song "Tequila Moon".

In 2008 Jessy J was featured on the cover of the May issue of Jazziz Magazine. In 2009, she was on the October cover of Saxophone Journal Magazine.

Trivia

The "J" in Jessy J stands for JAZZ. Wanting to find a name that people could easily remember, and after fiddling with the names Jessy and Jazzy, she and producer, Paul Brown, decided on the name Jessy J.

Discography

  • Tequila Moon
    Tequila Moon
    Tequila Moon is the first studio album from Peak Records recording artist Jessy J. It includes the Billboard Jazz #1 song "Tequila Moon"...

    (released March 4, 2008)
  • True Love
    True Love (Jessy J album)
    True Love is the second studio album from Peak Records recording artist Jessy J. It includes the Groove Jazz Music #1 single "Tropical Rain". That song also reached #1 on the R&R and Billboard Jazz charts...

    (released August 4, 2009)
  • Hot Sauce (released September 6, 2011)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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