JAY FREDERICK
composer/drummer/improvisor/multimedia artist
Jay Frederick plays the drums pretty good and he likes to get paid to do it. And he should too cause he’s been doing it a long time. He started when he was about one. Back then, he didn’t get paid for it cause he pretty much sucked. But now he’s old so he’s a lot better. He studied the drums a lot too which might be another reason why he’s pretty good.
He’s played with a bunch of famous people and also a whole bunch of unknown people. He likes playing with both kinds. He’s played with some people who were sorta famous but not really all that famous but interestingly enough seemed to think they were a lot more famous than they really were. He doesn’t like to play with those kind too much.
Jay Frederick takes really good pictures too, and he likes to get paid for that as well. His other “likes” include drinking lemon juice on ice with salt which he will do for free. His other “dislikes” include (but are not limited to) people who are from the United States of America but casually use the word “Ciao.”
Jay Frederick has played the drums all over the world. There’s a bunch of places he’s never been to. It’s ok though cause a lot of those places suck and he doesn’t really want to go anyway. He hasn’t played in Canada too much but he wouldn’t mind it. In the United States of America, he’s played a lot in the South East… and a lot in the North East too… and also in the Mid West and West Coast. All that was ok but he would really like to play a tour in the Fiji Islands. There are three hundred thirty three of those islands so if you think about it, it would make a nice year-long tour. So if you are booking one of these tours and need a drummer, call Jay Frederick cause he’ll play it… even if you’re one of those semi-famous delusional people that he doesn’t really like too much. However, he will still need to get paid for it whether he likes you or not.
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BIOGRAPHY
Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Jay Frederick is a New York City-based artist who has impressed musicians and critics alike with his highly personal approach to the drumset as a powerful yet uncommonly delicate and sensitive instrument. Largely self-taught, Frederick received his first drum as a gift on his first birthday. He has been playing in some form ever since. In the mid 90´s Frederick attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he majored in music theory and composition (with a concentration in music technology) and philosophy (with a concentration in Value Theory). While in school, he began performing regularly with bassist Cleve Eaton (of the Count Basie Orchestra and Ramsey Lewis Trio). After several years with Eaton, Frederick became a member of the Ken Watters Group performing modern acoustic jazz at clubs and festivals throughout the US. With this ensemble, he has recorded three critically acclaimed albums entitled Brothers II, Southern Exposure and Brothers III. All three CD´s were released internationally on Summit Records and made the US mainstream jazz charts. In 2003, Frederick moved to New Jersey to attend William Paterson University´s renowned Jazz Studies program. A year later, he moved to Manhattan and in 2005, received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Performance. During this time, Frederick worked with a wide range of consummate musicians in the jazz world including Benny Golson, Frank Wess, Ernie Watts, James Spaulding, Dave Binney, Barry Harris, James Williams, Eric Reed, Milt Hinton, Cleve Eaton, Rodney Whittaker, and Delfayeo Marsalis, among others.
In 2004, Frederick formed the COMMUNICATIONS CONSPIRACY, a jazz/new music multimedia performance group that focuses on creating audiovisual events. With this group, Frederick presents his work as a composer, drummer, photographer, avant-garde small-gauge filmmaker, and digital sound artist. By creating electroacoustic soundscapes mediated by an array of portable electronics and combining avant-garde cinema with jazz/new music performance, the result is a multimedia audiovisual experience realized through a marriage of new and vintage technologies.
In addition to his jazz, funk and avant-garde work, Frederick is equally at home as a backing musician in the NYC singer/songwriter scene. He has performed on national and international tours with New York singer/songwriter Diane Birch as well as several television performances including The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.
With a drumming style that is highly song oriented (i.e., creating drum parts that are focused on making the most of the song), his playing typically melds deceptively simple grooves with a casual, loose feel that is executed with precision--a style that lends itself well to the dusty Americana/Alt-Country music that Frederick often performs. He is currently the drummer for artists as Putnam Murdock, Dave Cieri, the Reverend John Delore, Steve Lewis and Kara Suzanne, and as recorded with the popular Americana Band King Wilkie as well as The Kings County Caravan.
From 2006 to 2009, Frederick was a member of YARN, a popular Brooklyn, New York-based Alt-Country band. He was a founding member of Yarn and has recorded three albums. Their 2008 release, Empty Pockets, was on the national AMA charts since October 2008 (reaching number 5) and made the Ballot for the 2009 Grammy Awards in several categories including the best duet category for the song I’m Down featuring Edie Brickell.
Frederick has performed live broadcasts on various television and radio shows all across the US including NPR´s popular talk show "Whad´ Ya Know" hosted by Michael Feldman, NPR’s Mountain Stage, and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. Frederick has also written music for film, the most recent of which was debuted as part of Robert B. Lisek´s (artist, mathematician and founder of Fundamental Research Lab) FLOAT installation--an on-line community channel providing "experimental space" and a variety of user tools. The work was presented at Harvestworks Digital Media Art Center in New York City. Additionally, Frederick has recorded music for the several documentary films by Ken Burns.