He is a keyboardist/pianist, producer and composer born Jay Russell Oliver in St. Louis, Missouri, who began performing while still young and by 19 years old was working with Maynard Ferguson.
He ran a studio in St. Louis and met up with Sheryl Crow who was a teacher at the time who wanted to know about singing and music. From that time on they have worked and written together and Sheryl Crow herself has recorded their songs, as well as Celine Dion and Wynonna Judd.
He has also been a long-time collaborator with David Weckl and appeared and worked on albums with the Dave Weckl Band until 1999. He later became a member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band and wrote for and/or worked with artists and groups that include Chick Corea, The Eagles, Glenn Frey, Jay Graydon, Peter Mayer, Bonnie Raitt, Boz Skaggs and Joe Walsh.
Later projects have included him working in India, working with the drummer Russ Kunkel and also on a project called “AO” with Rick Gannaway and the CBC Children’s Choir on a special invitation from China where they composed music for the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing.
Albums he has appeared on during the course of his career include Through the Fire by Peabo Bryson, Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads, Barometer Soup and Feeding Frenzy by Jimmy Buffett, Mallika – I Hate You by Sandeep Chowta, Selected Works-1972-1999 and Hell Freezes Over by The Eagles, Strange Weather by Glenn Frey, I Refuse to be Lonely by Phyllis Hyman, Hard-Wiredand Heads Up by David Weckl and the soundtrack of Arachnophobia.
In the scientific world he works in partnership with William Lenihan in the Sound Science team where he studies the effect of music on sleep patterns, emotions and the nervous system and has created BabySmart System which contains lullaby improvisations.
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