Jay is the Island of Misfit Toys’ bassist and background vocalist.
Jay started his musical career on the saxophone in grammar school. He began arranging horn sections for local R&B groups and gigging while in high school. Heading off to college and on the doorstep of grunge, the guitar seemed much cooler. He played many a three-chord masterpiece in different local bands through college.
It turns out that, as he came to age musically, the market was flush with guitarists. So, like many other bass players from that time, Jay decided to take up the low end. He played on and off through the late 1990’s with many different Chicago-based bands. In 2001, he joined SMITTYVISION and had a great 8 year run with a very talented group of musicians (including our own John Flaherty on guitar!). SMITTYVISION was a fixture in the Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park & North-Side music scene, playing blues, country, reggae and rock. Since then, Jay has sat in as a bass player and guitarist in different local groups including DRP, The Gombas Experience, and Dean’s List.
When Jay was looking for another musical outlet in 2018, he joined the Oak Park School of Rock to take some lessons for the first time in his life. At the same time, he joined the Grad School program and played several sessions with Tom Carraher and Sarah Konsky. Jay and Tom were looking to build something more so they started scheming over the summer of 2019. They convinced Sarah to join over a few beers in a dive bar in Forest Park, IL. The rest is history….
