Stevie Wonder, David Foster, Ted Greene, Donald Fagen, Joe Pass, Lenny Breau etc.
Sounds Like
Jay Graydon has a unique sound, which can be heard on recordings with David Foster, Airplay, Steely Dan, Bill Champlin, Pages, Chicago, Warren Wiebe, Bill Cantos, Brandon Fields, Dave Carpenter, Sherwood Ball, Rake and the Surftones, Al Jarreau, DeBarge, Earth, Wind & Fire, Manhattan Transfer, Marc Jordan, Steve Kipner, Joseph Williams, Planet 3, Air Supply, George Benson, Randy Goodrum, Dave Grusin and many more...
JAY GRAYDON recently teamed up with highly acclaimed songwriter, hit maker, lifelong friend and colleague - RANDY GOODRUM and they are now working together as the new supergroup - JaR. At this point JAY GRAYDON and RANDY GOODRUM as JaR have released their first album - SCENE 29 - which is getting raving reviews.
Smooth/AOR
From the reviews:
GREAT new music from Jay and Randy!
I'm totally knocked out by this record. What a release! I listened to it zillion of times, and I'm playing it for all the people I know, and they are VERY impressed. I wish JaR great success with this record. You deserve to sell millions and play stadiums and arenas. It is sad that most of the people out there buys crap, while there is around music on this level of sophistication, talent and experience. BUY THIS CD NOW !!!!!
Jay Graydon started his own record label - SONIC THRUST RECORDS - in 2001, to have total creative and artistic freedom in his songwriting and producing profession.
Jay Graydon's current albums released on SONIC THRUST RECORDS. Sound bites available.
MP3 Single
From the reviews:
WOW!!!!! Christmas is here!!
Hey SantaJake:) Thank you for this!!! Great song! I love it and it will be one of the highlights this christmas!! I now belive in Santa again!! Thanks' and many greetings from Norway!!
AC/AOR
From the reviews:
Simply the best songwriter and guitarplayer ever..... This album contains some of the greatest songs ever written. I especially am a big fan of the arrangements and the beautiful instrumentations. Very nice that some of the songs are without vocals so that you really can enjoy the music. I just miss "The Rakes" out of this world guitar solos.
AC/AOR
From the reviews:
A wet dream for west coast AOR lovers - 10 blistering and unreleased tracks from the "Music For The Planet" sessions incl. 3 slightly less polished tracks which made this ultimate classic - Jay Graydon, Clif Magness & Glenn Ballard simply rules !
Surf
From the reviews:
Rake Rules! Rake & The Surftones is a first class surf cd. I was afraid of the three vocal songs,but they're cool too. This is a very polished professional sounding group. Had they come out in the heyday of surf, they'd have ruled the radio waves.
AC/AOR
From the reviews:
What a killer CD! 5 OUT OF 5 STARS! These guys are very talented. Clif's vocals are great and Jay can shred like a madman. All of their songs are constructed so well.
POP/R&B
From the reviews:
A definitive and must have West Coast album! This is the second copy of the album I have (the first being the expensive Japanese release). A great album that highlights excellent songwriting and arrangements, one of my favourite voices - Warren Wiebe, and of course, some excellent and very tasteful, intelligent guitar playing.
Jazz
From the reviews:
Fantastic ! I heard first Jay Graydon with his superb solo in Steely Dan's "Peg". From that point I followed him closely buying all his solo CD's and titles related to his work. With "Bebop" he is surfing into an exceptional instrumental jazz, showing his great talent in something he didn't do before. This is a fantastic CD, Jay can simply not go wrong !
The best I have heard in eons!!!
A high quality version of this video is also available at YouTubeJaR - SCENE 29 now also available as an MP3 DOWNLOAD at CD BABY and each individual song as a download on iTunes!!!Sound bites of JaR available here!
If you can imagine Steely Dan meets Airplay and Pages with some jazzy flavors as well, a touch of humor, strong catchy melodies with intelligent lyrical hooks and AMAZING playing and singing - yea, there you have it!!! Read more about it at JaRZONE.com
A DVD with the magic 1994 concert (1st night) in Japan from the Japan/Scandinavia tour with the JAY GRAYDON ALLSTARS BAND is now released. Check out a few highlights on WARD Records Myspace page
JAY GRAYDON is a music industry veteran, internationally renowned, with many hits over the years. He is a Los Angeles top songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, producer, arranger, engineer, and more - twice Grammy awarded with 12 top five Grammy finalist nominations, among them are for instance the winning R&B songs AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE (also nominated SONG OF THE YEAR) and TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND and the nominations for e.g. the prestigious title "Producer of the Year" as well as a Grammy top five finalist nomination for "Best Engineered Recording".
More info at www.jaygraydon.com and www.jaygraydon.net
Among the many acknowledgements Jay Graydon has received over the years, N.A.R.A.S. - the Grammy board - once nominated him as Studio Guitarist of the Year. Jay was e.g. the soloist Grammy awarded (2001) Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Steely Dan chose for the legendary guitar solo on PEG on their album "Aja", after turning down 7-8 other guitar players. See video on interview with Fagen and Becker www.jaygraydon.net/performances.htmPeg
As you may already know Jay Graydon is the main songwriter/producer behind Al Jarreau's tremendous success in the 80s (something Al himself pointed out in a French TV show). Jay Graydon was instrumental in making Al Jarreau known to a larger audience and he co-wrote several hits with Al (as noted further below). Jay Graydon produced the Jarreau albums BREAKIN' AWAY, HIGH CRIME, THIS TIME and JARREAU among others and on them he also played the guitar and synthesizer, was a songwriter, arranger and engineer.
Jay Graydon was GRAMMY nominated among the top 5 finalists for the following Jarreau songs and albums...
* Album Of The Year - BREAKIN' AWAY
* Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals - MORNIN'
* Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals - STEP BY STEP
* Best Engineered Recording - JARREAU
To give you a very brief background - some of Jay Graydon's greatest hits include the aforementioned Grammy awarded TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND - a number 1 hit with George Benson, many songs co-written with super producer and long time pal David Foster, e.g. the Grammy awarded AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE - a huge number 1 hit with Earth, Wind & Fire and FRIENDS IN LOVE with Dionne Warwick and Johnny Mathis, several hits with Al Jarreau (e.g. MORNIN', BREAKIN' AWAY, HIGH CRIME, AFTER ALL, ROOF GARDEN, LET'S PRETEND, STEP BY STEP, OUR LOVE, LOVE IS WAITING, CLOSER TO YOUR LOVE and many more), WHO'S HOLDING DONNA NOW with DeBarge, several hits with Manhattan Transfer such as TWILIGHT ZONE/TWILIGHT TONE, ON THE BOULEVARD, SMILE AGAIN, SPIES IN THE NIGHT (a potential James Bond theme), just to name a few.
Jay Graydon's film music merits are extensive and he has participated as a musician and/or songwriter in over 50 films, such as The French Connection, Grease, Ghostbusters , St. Elmo's Fire, The Secret of My Success, Navy Seals, Lady Sings the Blues, The Greatest, Ghost Dad, Mahogany and One Hour Photo.
As for TV productions Jay has played on or written songs for - The Andy Williams Show, The Jackson 5 Show, The Alan Thicke Show, The David Steinburg Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, Friday Nite Live, The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Soupy Sales Show, The Smothers Bros. Show, The Midnite Special, The First and 2nd Rock and Roll Awards Show, Miami Vice II, Thank God It's Friday, Starsky and Hutch and many more.
Jay Graydon's top five finalist Grammy Nominations are as follows
* 1979 Best Rhythm & Blues Song - AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE (WINNER!)
* 1979 Song Of The Year - AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE
* 1980 Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental - TWILIGHT ZONE / TWILIGHT TONE
* 1981 Album Of The Year - BREAKIN' AWAY
* 1981 Best Vocal Arrangement For Two Or More Voices - KAFKA
* 1982 Best Rhythm & Blues Song - TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND (WINNER!)
* 1983 Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals - MORNIN'
* 1983 Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals - STEP BY STEP
* 1983 Best Engineered Recording - JARREAU
* 1983 Producer Of The Year
* 1984 Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture - GHOSTBUSTERS
* 1985 Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture - ST ELMO'S FIRE
Since Jay Graydon is awarded and nominated in so many categories over the years he probably holds the record of being the most versatile nominee in Grammy history. Jay also worked together with René Angelil and Céline Dion on the JT Super Producers concert in Japan in 1994 with David Foster. See the 2 first videos on the performances page on www.jaygraydon.net
AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE in a live performance with Bill Champlin plus Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire
TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND with George Benson in a live concert
MICHAEL CARUSO & THE DISCIPLES are honored to be among Music Connection Magazine's TOP 100 UNSIGNED ARTISTS OF 2009, to be featured in their December issue available this Wednesday, November 25th at news stands.....MC
Thanks for stoppin by and checkin out the site. Hope you are diggin the new BEKKA BRAMLETT HIT SINGLE "WHAT'S ON MY MIND" CURRENTLY ROCKIN MUSIC ROW...AVAILABLE @ CD BABY...NOW...GET THIS GIRL!
In just two weeks, Bill Champlin will be touring the West Coast in support of his new CD / DVD, "No Place Left To Fall", currently available by clicking the widget on his sites. Joining Bill will be Tamara Champlin, on vocals, along with Jerry Lopez, Rochon Westmoreland, Eddie Garcia, and Jamie Hosmer, of Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns.
Tickets are on sale now
Friday, November 6 • San Juan Capistrano, CA - Coach House - 949-496-8930
Saturday, November 7 • San Diego, CA - Anthology - 619-595-0300
Sunday, November 8 • Redondo Beach, CA - Brixton South Bay - 310-406-1931
Tuesday, November 10 • Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley - 831-479-1854
Wednesday, November 11 • Mill Valley, CA - Throckmorton Theatre - 415-383-9600
Thursday, November 12 • Tuolumne, CA - Black Oak Casino - 209-928-9322
Friday, November 13 • Lodi, CA - Hutchins Street Square - 209-333-6782
Saturday, November 14 • Santa Rosa, CA - Last Day Saloon - 707-545-5876
Sunday, November 15 • Newcastle, CA - Constable Jacks - 916-663-9385
Tuesday, November 17 • Dunsmuir, CA - Sengthong's Blue Sky Room - 530-235-1046
Thursday, November 19 • Portland, OR - Jimmy Maks - 503-295-6542
Friday, November 20 • Langley, WA - Mukilteo Coffee Roaster - 360-321-5262
Saturday, November 21 • Langley, WA - Mukilteo Coffee Roaster - 360-321-5262
Sunday, November 22 • Seattle, WA - Triple Door - 206-838-4333
Hi Jay.... Thanks for the add. You have been one of my favorite guitarist for years now. I love the Steely Dan tracks,but what you did for Gino Vannelli blew me away!!! I saw Gino in New Orleans Saturday.WOW!!!!! Allen Hinds is a great guitar player with Gino...... The Manhatten Transfer productions were killer! I really like the new music on your site.
Hi Jay, me and my brothers a few years ago did this cover of yours, just wanted pass it on and see what you thought of it. you probably have so many singers but you ever need some vocals im there dude, ive come along way since this recording, my brothers made me sing this, i tryed my best lol. nate.
Hi Jay, thanks so much for the add, welcome. It is a true pleasure to me, to meet you there. I love your music and guitar playing, really awesome. God bless and take care Jay, your fan in respect - Manfred
Hello Mister Graydon, I am very happy to have you as my friend in Myspace. You are one of the best "guitar heroe" and arranger/composer. The music of the eighties is in my mind forever. (AlJarreau/Manhattan Transfer/Pages/Robert Kraft/ EWF...) Best regards. Philippe PORTEJOIE (french classical and jazz saxophonist)
Hi! How are you? You can listen to our new song "In Your Soul" just now ! Please access our profile page and comment your impression. Regards. BrandNewDay