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 rock and pop scene. Frederick’s current gig is with New York singer/songwriter Diane Birch (http://www.dianebirch.com/) performing music from her first album Bible Belt which was released in 2009 on S-Curve Records and enjoyed resounding critical acclaim including reviews from Rolling Stone, Paper Magazine and the Huffington Post, among others. Bible Belt incorporates many styles of music, including blues, gospel, soul, rock and folk.  With this band, Frederick has performed on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, and completed a sold out tour in Japan.  In January Frederick will be performing with Birch as the opening act for Nick Jonas and the Administration’s national tour.

When not working with Birch, Frederick maintains a busy performance schedule with YARN (http://www.yarnmusic.net), a popular Brooklyn, New York-based Alt-Country band with an organic blend of bluegrass-tinged melodies, jam band roots, and the warmth of old vinyl.  Frederick is a founding member of Yarn and has recorded three (the most recent has yet to be released) albums.  Yarn’s 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.

Additionally, Frederick maintains a busy schedule consisting of session work and live performances.  As a result, Frederick has developed 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.

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.