“I dont care whom Im in front of young or old. When I play, I do it one-hundred percent”.
Jay Williams a veteran live musician whos toured the US, Japan and England with various bands, including as a keyboardist, guitar and bass player with improv experimental dance music ensemble Playground and Elektra records project Family Funk. His multi-instrument prowess has led to frequent collaborations with a range of producers and artists. His discography reads like a whos-who (or is that whos Who?) of dope underground labels.
A Hartford, CT native, Williams came up with his distinctive moniker in 1989 while on a trip to Barbados. He was a graffiti writer, and every wall he bombed he signed with a different first-name abbreviation, such as JasWhat?, JasHow?, JasWhy?, before settling on his current performance and recording title.
Inspired by UK garage imports in 1999 and 2000, as well as his friendships with Imperial Dub recordings Dubtribe and others in the vibrant SF house scene, Williams released his first single for Soulmine in 2001 titled Raw House Vol 1. Williamss goals for live music were simple:
“I wanted to do live funky house that sounded as good as any record, not watered down or like lite-jazz!”
He realized there were plenty of live acts doing other electronic music styles (breaks, trance etc.) but not many doing house, or doing it right. When Temple opened in 2007, Hemming brought Williams on as Music Director and a resident artist.
“I’m the studio guy, so I get my hands dirty on most of the projects coming and going”, he explains.
In addition, Williams is featured on several current and forthcoming Temple Music Groups projects. He performed, produced or co-produced every track on the recently released Prana compilation, featuring earthy, Eastern-tinged downtempo and deliciously languid beats. In early September TMG will release Williams production as The Caren Hope Project (CHP). The album fuses dancehall and tripped out beats with Indian percussion, gongs, sitars, tablas, monk chants, spoken mantras and other exotic elements.
Additionally, Williams and singer and Isabel Lozano have collaborated as Kuuma on an EP titled “Mixed Up”, release in February 17th, 2009 on T.M.G. Keep your eyes out for a debut jAswhO? full-length album to be releases in summer 2009.
“My goal is to make hot music for TMG! says an enthused Williams. Lets put SF on the map again”.
While juggling jAswhO? recordings and other collaborations, Williams also finds time to contribute to 40 Thieves, a collective project with Corey Black, Layne Fox and TK Disco who make punk-funk, disco dub and no-wave house. On a similar tip, Williams lent his signature syrupy bass licks to Ben Cooks internationally embraced Stranger and Barfly (Rong, Coco Machete, Grayhound Records) recordings. Williams also collaborates with DJ Durben (a.k.a Ben Tom) in the Black Wangz project, whose remix of Peter Bjorn & Johns Young Folks has been on local radio for a year.
“My ability to play keyboards, guitar and bass is my calling card, its introduced me to a lot of producers and grounded me in the music community”, says Williams of his creative network adding, “The synergy in the Bay Area is ridiculous. Everyone is connected and working on similar projects. Everyone plays each others records”.
The word is definitely out about this immensely talented deep house, downtempo, dirty disco and broken beat producer who URB magazine dubbed A funkier Naked Music. Hes funky and fearless, as all who take in his gigs and music learn. I bring a sense of urgency and fearlessness.
Partial jAswhO? Discography:
Ladies on Soulmine Records (House)
The Fusion EP (Temple Music Group)
The JasWho? EP (Electric Zen)
Mash It Up (Amphibus)
40 Thieves Buzz City EP (Redux)
Karsh Kale Beautiful- Remix (Six Degrees)
Peter Bjorn and John Young Folks – Black Wangz Remix
