Jay Rowe - Ho Ho Ho Holiday Show

Jay’s interest in music developed at a considerably early age. “I really started paying attention to music at age 3 ½.”  He liked The Beatles Revolver album, which he heard at an uncle’s house, so his mother bought him his own copy.  “I asked for Sgt. Pepper for Christmas when I was 4.  From then on, I was hooked.”

The fact that he chose the piano as his instrument is no fluke.  Jay grew up with the piano in his life.  Many of his relatives took piano lessons growing up.  His grandmother owned a piano, which eventually ended up in the Rowe house.

Jay attended New England Conservatory of Music where he became a part of the New Haven music scene, along with fellow Connecticut natives Marion Meadows and Rohn Lawrence.  He formed a band that began playing as an opening act for whatever smooth and contemporary jazz acts that played in New Haven, including The Rippingtons, David Benoit, Bela Fleck, Stanley Jordan, and Jeff Lorber.  When sax player Marion Meadows got his record deal and went out on the road, he took Jay with him as part of his band.

For the past several years, Jay has organized and played in an annual fundraising concert event called Smooth Jazz for Scholars, in Milford, CT.  “One of the things that’s really great about being a sideman and playing with a lot of different people is, obviously, you get to meet so many great musicians and it just adds to your network.”  In the past, the Smooth Jazz for Scholars roster included Marion Meadows, Chieli Minucci, Ken Navarro, Nelson Rangell, and Chuck Loeb.  For this year’s show, the line-up is Marion, Nelson, Chieli, and Jeff Kashiwa.  “It’s just something I started doing a few years ago as a way of raising more awareness for music education and bringing world class music into suburbia.