About
An artist for seasons and times
Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, and raised on the bandstands of New York, Jay Rodriguez Sierra is a three-time Grammy nominee whose sound reaches from Ravel and Stravinsky to the voices of Africa and the music of the Americas.
Photo: Bill DouhartEarly years
On the scene at fifteen
Jay was introduced to the clarinet in grade school at age seven. He took up saxophone and flute with his best friend’s brother, Jesus Garcia, and soon met Tito D’Rivera, father of Paquito, and the great teacher Joe Allard. On the road with Dominican singer Vicente Pacheco he met lead alto Mark Friedman, who introduced him to Phil Woods. By fifteen he was playing around town.
He graduated with honors from the High School of Performing Arts, now LaGuardia, alongside Bill Charlap and Jon Gordon. In his last year there, alto great Arnie Lawrence recruited him as one of the young lions of the new New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he studied with Sir Roland Hanna, Walter Davis Jr., Joe Henderson, John Gilmore, Gil Goldstein, Clifford Jordan, Jimmy Heath and Joe Lovano.
“My saxophone guru, Mark Friedman, tried to teach me how important it was to be a kid. Of course, I didn’t listen. Life informs the music, and not the other way around.”
From Jay’s archiveThe Village Gate and beyond
Salsa meets jazz, and Groove Collective
His first crossovers from Latin music into jazz came with bassist Victor Venegas, Marco Rizo, Candido and Paquito D’Rivera, who brought him to sit in at the Village Gate’s Monday night Salsa Meets Jazz series. There he met Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine and Ray Barretto, and was featured as a soloist. He would never be the same again.
Jay is a founding member of Groove Collective, the New York phenomenon that shared stages with James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Dave Matthews and Widespread Panic, and was the featured rhythm section on the documentary Red, Hot and Cool.
Collaborations
A roll call too long to finish
A short list of the artists Jay has performed or recorded with:
Celia Cruz · Tito Puente · Ray Barretto · Eddie Palmieri · Willie Colón · Chucho Valdés & Irakere · Paquito D’Rivera · Prince · Stevie Wonder · Elvis Costello · Joe Lovano · the Gil Evans Band · the Mingus Big Band · David Murray · Roy Hargrove · Randy Brecker · James Moody · Clark Terry · Cab Calloway · Doc Cheatham · Slide Hampton · the New York Philharmonic · Fred Wesley · Bernie Worrell · George Porter Jr. · Medeski, Martin & Wood · Marc Ribot · Vernon Reid · Marshall Allen · Craig Harris · Roy Nathanson · David Krakauer · Nona Hendryx · Joan Osborne · Bobby Sanabria · Giovanni Hidalgo · Guru’s Jazzmatazz · DJ Premier · the Wu-Tang Clan · The Roots · Miley Cyrus · Andrew Wyatt · Jason Miles · Teruo Nakamura · François K · Louie Vega · Dennis Ferrer · Amiri Baraka · Carrie Mae Weems
Many of Jay’s achievements are documented in the Encyclopedia of Jazz by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler.
From the archive
In the company of the music’s great voices
Photo: Frank Prinzi
Photo: Infocus Media GroupSound System Culture
Passing it on
Every relationship in these photographs began because someone made room for a young artist. As founder and Artistic Director of Sound System Culture, Jay makes that room on purpose: paid youth media training, fair artist fees, intergenerational ensembles and the Listen & Be Heard Network, co-led with poet Martha Cinader.