Jay
"JayMo" MowBray - veteran vocalist, band leader, organizer and band booking
agent, JayMo's soulful voice leaves a memorable impression on listeners - who
invariably return to listen to him again and againJayMo began singing as a little boy, first to the grade school girls who gathered on his front porch to hear him sing songs like "House of the Rising Sun," and later with a band that performed every Friday night at "Teen Town," which was held at the school gym.
There were other bands through the years, but singing became secondary to the more pressing concerns of finding a profession and raising a family. A long car ride with the radio blasting, while he sang at the top of his lungs, continued to be a spiritual release, however, as did a long stint with a gospel band that toured throughout the Midwest.
JayMo has been a newspaper reporter, an electrician and is now an attorney. In 1986, he was electrocuted in a freak accident (4160 volts) that changed his life in many ways, one of which was his decision after a year of recovery that "Life is too short not to sing."
After hearing him sing at a party, a number of Wichita attorneys insisted on
forming a band, which became The Crime Doctors, a band that eventually had
audiences waiting in block-long lines at clubs throughout the city. JayMo
wanted, however, to sing in a big city, and had always loved KC, so he convinced
his lovely wife to move, auditioned for one band, the Hipnotics, got the job and
has been singing with that band in KC for the last 10 years.The Hipnotics were voted Best Blues Band in Kansas City a few years ago, went to Memphis and played at the International Blues Challenge, then won Pitch magazine's award for Favorite Blues Band in KC the next year. Check out their CD "Plannin? An Accident," at TheHipnotics.net. (Read an 8/04 review in The Pitch.)
About three years ago, JayMo agreed to sing at a Christmas party for a local jazz club, after which the amazing pianist Paul Smith (Karyn Allyson's keyboardist) asked him if he'd like to form a jazz band. JayMo agreed and began performing regularly with "JayMo and Friends," which eventually included some of the best jazz players in KC, including Mark Lowery, Steve Rigazzi, Rob Whitsitt, Ken Lovern and Oscar Polke.
His latest CD "POP" is on sale at Jaymo's CDBaby site.
All the while, however, JayMo knew something was missing. He loved singing the blues, but sticking strictly to the blues was limiting, and he had never considered himself a jazz singer, though he enjoyed singing with the jazz cats. What he really had always wanted to sing, what really moved JayMo, from the times when he sang to the little girls on his front porch, was soulful rock and roll, the kind of music no one was making anymore and that many youngsters may never have been exposed to.
This band is the culmination of JayMo's dream to sing the songs that have always moved him. Songs that are as classic and iconic as "Stairway to Heaven" or the other songs that repeat in an endless loop on radio play, but never got that kind of attention, thank God. Lesser known songs by artists like Mitch Ryder (Devil with the Blue Dress) and Otis Redding (Try a Little Tenderness). Powerful music from the American Songbook of the 70's, 80's, 90's (and some even more recent) that deserve to be reheard, re-enjoyed . . . and danced to. Played by a band that's got the chops to bring the songs alive again and sung by a man who truly loves the melodies and the lyrics. This band, this music, the KC Aces, is JayMo's personal dream come true.
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Jaymo's bands have played the Spirit Fest and many other Midwest festivals, opening for artists like for Buddy Guy, Los Lobos, Chris Duarte and John Mayall. Music talent runs in Jaymo's family: his sons had record contracts right out of high school. Jaymo's youngest son, Noah Earle (NoahEarle.com), won the KC Blues Challenge and was a finalist in the International Blues Challenge and the Kerrville Folk Festival He currently is under a recording contract and is touring throughout the country in support of his two CD's. Jaymo's oldest son, Nathan James, plays throughout the Portland, Oregon, area as a soloist and a member of Keep Your Fork, There's Pie.
