‘Joanie Jay’ kicks off holidays with in-home concer
Rossmoor resident, Joanie Jay, held her annual cozy In-home Christmas Concert Sunday afternoon where she performed vocals with the Ron Kobayashi Trio of piano, drums and bass.
Kobayashi, from Orange, plays piano; Sam Montooth, from Los Alamitos, plays string bass And another local who plays the drums is Isaac Sanchez.
Joanie Jay has said that in music there is harmony and in harmony there is peace and what a perfect time of year to combine those two thoughts through music.
Her many years of experience in the music industry and her love of performing make a perfect combination for a wonderful afternoon of entertainment, with her patter in between songs that shows off her delightful personality. The afternoon culminated with a buffet with the fine musicians and audience members getting an opportunity to visit.
Joanie Jay recently recorded a new Christmas CD at Studio 770 in Brea with Owner and Chief Engineer Shantih Haast, where a Tuesday, Dec. 10, open-mic event is planned at 7 p.m. for all who are interested in attending.
Joanie Jay is a twin; she and her twin brother were raised in a musical family 150 miles south of Chicago in Galesburg, Ill, where they would sing harmony together from the age of 3. With her older brother and sister, the four would sing together, “So, vocal groups have been what I’ve enjoyed the most,” she shared.
Jay would ride the train from Galesburg to Chicago for singing and dancing lessons and later, while in high school, she had a dance studio in Galesburg. “My mother, Esther, taught piano and so we shared a studio together, known as the ‘Joan Esther Studio,’ where she taught piano and I taught dancing,” she said
After high school, Joanie Jay attended the “Shillinger Music School” and after college, she returned to Galesburg and auditioned for a touring dance group. Through that group, she was able to perform all over the Midwest using her dancing talents.
While touring and performing at Fairs, she met her husband in Chicago, who was an acrobat on a trampoline, and he appeared on the Ed Sullivan and Perry Como shows as well as others.
Her husband was originally from Long Beach, Calif. and so that’s how she got to Southern California. Because her husband was in show business, Joanie Jay worked in Reno, La Vegas and Tahoe as a singer and dancer in-line and was on the same show with her husband. “That was really fun being on the same show and working with my husband,” Jay said.
She also traveled with her husband who was on tour with the Roy Rogers Show as “The Rydells” trampoline act, where she had the opportunity to meet, “The Sons of the Pioneers” who introduced her to the Gene Autry “Melody Ranch Show” that was on Channel 5 for a season where she sang.
After marrying and starting their family Joanie Jay said she needed to stay home and raise her son and daughter and so she began singing with local dance bands that played 1940s music, performing on the Queen Mary for 12 years with “The Little Big Band,” so called because Big Bands have 16 instruments and theirs had 10.
Other gigs included the Tracy Wells Band and the Phoenix Club in Anaheim and the Long Beach Senior Center to name a few.
Jay doesn’t charge for her concerts because she feels it’s a way to share the talent with which she was born.
“The musicians I perform with in my home are normally paid for performances but they, and I, do these concerts because we have a love of music,” she explained.
The group does accept donations and her CD is offered for sale as well.
The group plays a wide-range of music; this time, of course, the concert had a lot of Christmas songs and an opportunity for those attending the concert to sing along and some joined Jay for a duet.
Jay also sings as a soloist at the “Inner Christ Church,” and has been teaching there. “I’ve always wanted to sing and that’s ‘why’ I was sent from Heaven to the family I was born into,” she said, explaining that her father played the trumpet; older brother the string bass and her twin brother has been at Disney World in Florida and also plays the string bass and the tuba.
“Everyone should follow their feelings that bring them joy; always follow that inner feeling of ‘Love’ for yourself so that you can share love with others.”
A plaque in her living room reads, “You make my heart sing.
Photos by Loreen Berlin
