Steve’s Track of the Week: Jay Kim

Jay Kim is ‘Returning Back’!

Jay was born and brought up in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to McLean, Virginia when he was 13 years old, and first began playing music right after he heard a song called ‘In The Name of Love’ by Grover Washington Jr. from radio.

By 14, he became a leading soloist at Fork Union Military Academy Jazz Band and was honored as a first chair selection to all states of military high school band festival. Jay’s influenced by saxophone players such as Dave Koz, Everette Harp, Euge Groove and Grover Washington Jr. In 2005, he recorded his first Album ‘Tenderness’ which he produced himself.

Jay’s album ‘Perfect Experience’ features nine new songs and was released in 2011. He worked with producer Jeff Lorber and Alex Al & Dwayne Smitty Smith on bass, Morris O’Connor on Guitar, Tony Moore & Oscar Seaton Jr. on drums. Since this release, Jay has returned back to LA to record his new EP which features fine reworks of Al Jarreau’s ‘We’re In This Love Together’, Whitney Houston’s ‘Run To You’ and ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’.

But my Track of the Week is the very funky cover of Stevie Wonder‘s ‘I Wish’.

You can pick up his new EP ‘Returning Back’ here Find out more about Jay Kim at his website.

Watch this cool video of ‘I Wish’ and Jay’s trip around LA: