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Trumpeter Jay Jennings has been a member of the 5-time grammy winning band Snarky Puppy since 2004. He played in county music superstar Toby Keith's band for a decade. Now he is taking the jazz world by storm by writing and recording new west coast style jazz with his Yayennings Quartet. Jay grew up in Grapevine, TX. He was lucky to have a piano in the house growing up, which he considers his introduction to music education. Jennings started playing the trumpet at age 11, and by 15 he was already playing professionally. In high school he was selected to the Texas All-State Jazz Ensemble both sophomore and senior years and was selected for the High School Grammy Jazz Ensemble, which performed at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, CA. Jennings auditioned as a college freshman and was selected for a jazz soloist chair in the world renowned One O'clock Lab Band at UNT. He joined The Polyphonic Spree. Jennings began touring with Eli "Paperboy" Reed in 2010 and over his career has backed up some of the world's finest artists such as Aretha Franklin, Michael McDonald, David Crosby, David Bowie, Lalah Hathaway, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Lee Fields, Bobby Rush, Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap), The O'Jays, Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, The Four Tops, and many more. quartet began during the Snarky Puppy recording session for Culcha Vulcha in 2016. Jennings and fellow Snarky Puppy band mate, Bob Reynolds(tenor), spent much of the session’s “off time” jamming in a room with a grand piano playing duets. After realizing they share a similar interest in early 1950’s west coast bebop, Jay started composing for his own band. Jay called upon his west coast UNT alumni Jose Perez (Pancho Sanchez, Bokanté) on drums and Ross Schodek (Pancho Sanchez) on bass to be the back bone in the “chordless” quartet. The YAYennings Quartet album “Scott Ave” will be released in February of 2019. Jay Jennings is a member of the Yamaha artist family and proudly plays Yamaha trumpets.