Jay-Double-You!, a.k.a., James Wright, was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan.  He worked for several years in recording studios with the likes of producer Don Davis and artists’ Bernie Worrell; Johnnie Taylor; and George Clinton and his Parliament Funkadelic road show favorites, Parlet and Brides of Funkenstein. Most notably, Jay-Double-You! was the original band leader and drummer of Parlet, and in fact, was responsible for bringing the musicians together to form the group.

After his experience with Parlet, Jay-Double-You! decided to pursue a solo career, concentrating both on writing and performing. He established his own record label/publishing company, “Talking Music” (BMI) - under which all of his recordings to date have been produced, released, published and distributed.

www.joekelleyradio.com

You the brother was bad.

His name is JW and that is the title track from his CD entitled I'll see you soon.

He is a modern day Funkin Rollster who keeps true to the musicians who came before him.

And he is Atlanta based.

And I've been wanting to have JW on the program for quite a while here on the Upper Room with Joe Kelly.

And today's the day I welcome to the upper room, Mr. J.W.

how you doing, Jay?

Doing very good.

How are you, Joe?

You're coming through loud and clear and good.

And it's just a pleasure to have you on.

You know, your CD is something I bring to every show and just mix up the tracks.

And I want to thank you first and foremost for giving us the gift of your music.

Well, thank you also, you know, for even having me on the show.

And thanks to everyone listening around the world also, Bridgeport, Connecticut and.

It's my pleasure, man, my pleasure.

Well, we've been talking the past couple days about the state of music and your CD is just a breath of fresh air.

I'll see you soon.

Working on these tracks.

I know you've been hard at work in the studio.

What was your mindset in getting this kind of music out?

Well, the mindset was pretty much just doing what made me feel very good and watching little kids dance to the music, you know, because sometime we used to rehearse, you know, in my apartment, which is a patio window right next to the room, and it would attract little kids on the porch and they would dance to the music that we would rehearse, which was the music that you're hearing now actually know one of the songs you just played.

But once I saw that, I knew I had something because kids tell the truth, you know, they'll tell you in a minute, if it's not happening, they'll let you know.

And so they must have been telling you good positive signs, right?

Good positive signs.

Yeah, they were loving it.

And, you know, it was nice to see the kids dancing to real music and definitely being interested in seeing live entertainment opposed to, you know, just someone with a turntable, what have you.

It seems it's educational also.

Now, the trick is, my question, I guess is did you get any of those youngsters in to start playing the drums or are they still hooked on the turntables?

Well, actually, it's funny you mentioned that it was always two or three little young guys wanting to play.

I let them play a couple of times, but they were really, you know, being very persuasive.

To get me to let them play on the real drum set, which I thought was very nice.

And, you know, it's there for them.

You know, if you introduce it to them, you know, they would be attracted to it just like anything else.

Because a young mind is always curious and trying out new things.

Now, let's go back to when JW was growing up in Michigan.

How did you get into music?

Well, actually, I, of course, by Motown being in Detroit.

And I'm the youngest of four, four other siblings.

And my older brother, you know, he played music a lot back in those days.

He had the 45.

But in any case.

And so by Motown being there, Detroit was one of the first markets that would get the new music.

And of course, the Motown Revue.

And I was introduced to the revue at an early age.

I went with my brother.

I was around nine years old.

And once I saw the pandemonium in the Fox Theater at the time, it was very exciting.

And it just seems like it never left me.

What did you take specifically from that Motown sound in your songwriting?

Anything in particular?

Well, lyric wise, you know, being able to try to tell a story, you know, to tell a short story, a positive story.

Something that will, you know, inspire you.

That's what I basically could say that I took from old time.

One of the things that, you know, they did very well was very good songs, very good songwriting.

And then, of course, you got your indoctrination into the P function by one of your sisters, right?

Yeah, my sister, Debbie Wright.

She was working, doing sessions at an early age back then.

You know, girls 14, 15, put on a little makeup and get the false ID and get in certain clubs.

And I think she met George Nim working at the 20 grand.

And from there, she started singing with the girl guys in the studio.

And one thing led to another after a few years went by.

She was one of the first girls we Parliament, you know, on the first Mothership World tour.

And that's how I became to know George, Bernie, Ray, Mike Hampton and the rest of the guys.

And I think that was.

I think I met.

I met Barney and Ray.

Wow.

I was a very young kid, about nine, 10 years old.

So, of course, we're speaking of Bernie Worrell.

Bernie actually has been in the studio here with his keyboard.

So, you know, he's a true, true nice guy.

And it'd be nice if you guys could hook up for something, that, that would be awesome.

Hopefully in the future, we'll be able to hook up with something.

I was fortunate enough to play on his first record, all the Woo in the World.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, I was able to play on a few tracks.

I know I played the title track, and I'm not sure.

I think it's a couple of more I played.

But I was fortunate enough to work on that particular record.

He's doing a track live in his set these days from that record.

Excuse me.

He's doing a track from that CD in his live set these days.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that's cool.

Yeah, Barney is kicking live, man.

Yep.

The Woo Warrior passion.

So, Jay, when you were growing up and you spoke of being around all those talented people, do you remember the first concert you ever went to?

I would say the Motown Review.

Motown Review.

It was little Stevie Wonder, Edwin Starr, a group called the Monitors, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and of course, the Temptations.

Without a Doubt, I believe the Four Tops.

So I got Martha Reeves and the Vandella.

So I had a chance to see pretty much all of them on one stage.

And that's pretty much unheard of these days.

You know, I was able to see at least eight or nine acts, you know, in one particular show.

So, yeah, that was my first concert.

So when is the JW R&B Funk Chronicles book coming out?

Well, you've got it all there.

I heard that.

Well, I'll be doing a show in Sweetwater, Tennessee, at the second annual Freedom Festival.

It's by Golden Boy Productions.

I'll get that information to you to give to the listeners way before April 20, but look out for that.

And in between that time, I'm working on a new record right now.

It should be done hopefully by the end of March.

I'm looking at the end of March.

Yeah, so.

So that's really exciting because, you know, you just released last year.

I'll see you soon.

And coming out with something fresh again.

Yeah, well, you know, you have to keep moving, you know, especially in my position.

I'm independent record producer, of course.

You know, thanks to guys like yourself, you know, we're able to hit a lot of other markets, you know, throughout the world.

And once you get a little window in, you want to try to give the people, you know, a little more music.

Plus, this is what I do for a living.

And I have to keep cutting forever, right?

That's right.

And we should let our listeners know that while they're listening to the Interview right now.

They can go to jw.com j a y d O U B L E y o u.com and they can order the cds from there, right?

Yes, yes, they can.

All right.

Yeah.

All the information they need is right there.

And they can put a bid in for the.

The George Clinton boots.

You still got them.

There you go.

There you go.

Yeah, yeah.

Put a bid in for the boots.

The boots are from the album Funk intellect.

Funk intellect versus placebo syndrome.

Right, the one with flashlight and.

And funk and Teleki.

Yeah, but those boys are up on the screen, you know, for those that want a little history, you know, give me a call or hit me on the email and make a bid.

And it'll be a nice accessory for the upcoming live dates you're gonna be doing this spring.

If they want to wear them to the show.

Oh, hey, there you go.

Right?

They can wear them.

Hey, Halloween, to the show, to the moon, you know.

You know, wherever they want to go.

They are in very good condition also.

Right.

I must say.

They are in very good condition.

And that's a great part of history.

Yeah.

Those that, you know would like to have that piece of history, I'm willing to part with it.

So jw.com and we're gonna get into a track off the CD.

I'll see you soon.

Right now, this one is called Hurt so Bad.

And what was going on in the studio with this track?

Well, what was pretty much going on with that one?

Now I'm playing clavinet and drums on that song, of course, the writer.

And we pretty much just laid it.

Listen, got an excellent horn player named Eric Armstrong, Actually, the late Eric Armstrong.

Unfortunately, he passed early last year and for.

Fortunately, I was able to get him on these tracks, you know, forever.

But yeah, we just.

That's that song.

You know, I had that song for a while and just one day, you know, listening to it and replaying it, just happened to come up with some nice lyrics and took it from there.

Okay, we'll check it out right now.

JW is my special guest here on the Upper Room with Joe Kelly.

Pleasure to be with him.

And this is from.

I'll see you soon.

It's called Hurt so Bad.

JW will be back in a few moments.

So bad.

And you can get the full version on the CD as well.

And guess what, Funketeers.

We welcome back to the Upper Room with Joe Kelly.

Mr. JW.

You still there, Jay?

Oh, yeah.

And it's great to have you.

And how's the Atlanta live music Scene and radio scene, well, it's pretty much.

Like pretty much any major city now.

The live entertainment is.

It's entertainment pretty much all week around here in Atlanta, you know, they have a variety of live music, you know, from jazz to alternative to blues.

You know, you can pretty much find whatever it is that you're looking for here and it's pretty consistent on the entertainment thing.

And of course, of course you are going to be looking forward to taking your band out this spring.

And we talked about the Tennessee date.

Right, right, right.

People can go to your website, JW and people, if you want to get in contact with jw, he is an independent artist.

So you can hit them up with email or a call.

All the info is on the site and definitely get in contact with them.

I'm sure the band is definitely going to be.

Gonna be live.

That's right.

And you are a multi instrumentalist.

Why don't you let people know exactly what you play?

Well, I play, you know, drums, of course, I play percussions, I play keyboards, play a little bass and that's.

That's pretty much it.

And, and do the writing and the singing and the arranging, but that's pretty much what I do.

Now what happens on stage when, of course, you can't play everything at once?

Oh, well, on stage I'm pretty much playing keyboards, singing and playing percussions and of course running around and getting the crowd into the music.

Right.

Letting all your energy out, all the energy out.

You know, you grew up on, on just the bands that set the tone and gave us the recipe of putting on a live show today.

You know, we talked a little off air about some of the dire straits out there, but there are a lot of great bands such as yourself, your band that is doing it right.

What are some of the ways as an independent artist that you're letting people know that you got a great album and ready to throw down?

Well, you know, you kind of do whatever you have to do.

I mean, when it comes to selling your record, you know, of course you get with guys like yourself.

I mean, I've sold records in Chinese restaurants, I've sold records in gas stations.

I've sold records at music festivals.

I mean, when you're independent, you pretty much have to hit the pavement, you know, because, you know, usually independent means you a little poorer than most record companies and you don't have the big staff to help you out in, you know, the multi, the multiple categories that you have to deal with in the business.

So you pretty much do whatever it is you have to do to get your name out there and to get people to your site.

Like I say, I keep records on me at all times.

I always keep product.

You know, if I go from here to Florida, or Florida to New York, or New York to Detroit, you better believe every spot in between.

I am trying to sell a record and that's how it's done.

And until, you know, you get picked up and fortunately, you know, with the Internet, you know, I'm able to sell records over in Sweden, sell records over in Paris, over in Germany, over in Italy.

So the longer you keep going and you know, the more you become of this business, it pretty much take care of itself as long as you keep putting forth effort.

See, I think the way you're going, independent artists and myself as a radio show, that is the way it really should be.

It's just we hope it turns into a little more easier that.

Yeah, you know, that you could play and create and do that.

But yeah, well, that's the beautiful thing about being independent.

You're able to at least write what you want to write without having, say, the executive or the president of a record company to tell you that, no, we don't want you doing that sort of style, you know, because they have really a lot of control over what artists sing and what they don't sing in the industry.

And that's one of the advantages that being independent that you have because you can write exactly what you want to write, you know, as long as you can pay for it, you can write it.

So let's see you record at your home studio.

Home studio.

All right.

If you had a wish list for studio gear that you want to put back in the home crib, you got anything in mind that you'd be wanting to put in?

Oh man, that's a loaded question.

Because there's so much stuff out there now, it's hard to say really.

Joe, Right?

You know, it's hard to say.

Just I'll put it like this.

Give me something that works.

I guess, you know, if it's a five dollar machine and it works and gives you that sound.

Right, I'll use it.

I'll use it.

Yeah.

You know, but I mean Mackie makes nice stuff right now, you know, a nice Mackie board with a Mackie 2 inch tape.

Well, a digital Mackie board, shall I say?

And that could be about 48 tracks, you know, plenty of room, you know, for the booth and the inner room, you know, so it's a lot, but I mean, it just goes on and on and on and on.

When it comes to the things that they're creating right now, as far as to try to give you the best sound that you can possibly get.

Now this might and probably is too broad of a question, but I'm going to throw it at you.

If you could spend a couple weeks, weeks in the studio with some of the dream performers to collaborate with, who would some of them be?

Wow, I would love to work with Steely Dan.

Okay, yeah, that would be nice.

I would love to work with.

Wow, that's a lot.

I would love to work with, say, Tina Turner.

I think she would be nice to work with.

Of course.

Anybody like the guys I've been listening to.

Like I would love to do some stuff with, say, with Seal.

Seal would be cool.

That's who I can think of off the top of my head, you know.

But it's a lot of people, people that I would love to work.

I mean, I just love music, period.

Right.

So it could be a country artist just as much as it could be a jazz artist, you know, I mean, just self expression.

It's a good feeling to hear anybody's self expression if it's coming from the heart.

So jw, besides being a singer, songwriter, musician himself, is a talented producer and I know you could put, put some spark into those artists you mentioned beforehand.

Oh yeah, without a doubt.

Right.

Brand new, brand new.

Oh yeah.

I love to do some stuff with Janet too.

Janet would be nice.

That's right.

She could take a day off from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Yeah, yeah, she did some of this Detroit funk.

Based out of Atlanta.

Right.

How often do you get back to Michigan?

I try to get there.

I was there last year.

I try to get there at least once a year, if not definitely every two years.

You know, I have family in Detroit, have family in New York, family in Florida, and I live here in Atlanta with me and my wife.

So we pretty much have a busy year.

Just visiting family within the 12 months out of the year, you know.

Now how did you settle on Atlanta?

Well, Atlanta I had did some 12 inch records back in 86 and 87.

12 inch single.

One was called, one is called Talking to Myself and one is called, you know what she said.

Actually, I have to get some of that to you too, Joe.

Oh yeah, I played better.

But in any case, I came here to one of the Jack the Rapper conventions and met a young lady here named Eugenia Preston, which she, you know, enjoyed the music I had.

And she introduced me to a guy named Mitch Faulkner, which Mitch Faulkner was the program director of KISS 104.

When they first.

First started, they started here in Marietta, Georgia.

And, you know, they treated me very well, you know, different from, you know, the big city of Detroit, you know, with the whole pay thing that's going on, you know, and.

But they treated me nice here.

And back in 93, I was doing a little work up in Florida.

And after that work was done, I decided to come here because of that treatment that I received back in 86 and 87.

And it's been good.

Yeah.

And you're happy down there, got your home studio?

Oh, yeah, Very happy.

That's gotta be real nice to just wake up and you don't have to go too far to lay down that funk.

Yeah, yeah.

It's a very good feeling.

It's definitely a blessing to have it that close to you when that's what you love to do.

How about when you put the music aside, what do you like to do in your free time?

Free time?

I walk a lot.

I do a lot of walking.

When I do have free time and a little money to go with the free time, I like going a little sport event, you know, go see some sports, go to the movies and, you know, get with family.

And pretty much sometime we go to the beach, hang out for a week and relax that way for a while.

And it could pretty much.

It varies, you know, it all depends on how I feel at the time and how much time I have free.

So why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about this upcoming album.

I know it's going to be a little different or.

Yeah, it's going to be different from the last record.

Actually, the title is called White Boy Deal.

Okay.

With in parentheses, I want the.

And so some people could say it will be called I Want the White Boy Deal.

Now, the concept of that is basically just another way of saying that black artists want equality in the business, you know, and it will speak for itself once you hear it.

And it's a great track.

It's a good track, It's a fun track.

And that's all it's saying that, you know, come on, it's enough music out here to where most people think that if you're a black artist, that you rap, which that's what the industry have been pretty much presenting.

If it's not that, it's pretty much R and B, you know, slow songs, what have you.

But it's a lot of black people that grew up on rock and roll still love rock and roll.

You know, love all type of music.

And we just want to show the people of the world that there are some diverse, you know, black folks in the United States that, you know, do things other than rap.

And also they can play instruments still.

So.

So you, you're knocking down the myth right off the bat on the new cd, right?

Right off the bat.

Right off the bat.

And it's basically saying we want the white boy deal, you know, I mean, you know, everybody learn from everybody.

And I, and I don't, you know, this is not towards any of the artists.

Everyone have a right to, you know, be creative.

It's basically just still putting us in a certain category.

But at the same time, you, you know, they have the white artists do what we do, but they still try to knock us out of the box even from that, you know, they just limit us when it comes to marketing and even bigger exposure or even the creative aspect.

And the folks doing the knocking down are driving in a better car than the people creating the music.

So that's not right.

Yeah, well, I mean, you know, I'm happy that they have a nice car, but what's one thing that I've learned?

Everyone knows their self worth, you know what I mean?

So.

And money isn't everything.

And you know, I wish nice things for everyone, you know, because the real ones last, you know, the real ones will be here, you know, their music will be here.

And you know, that's just how it is.

But that's one reason why I made a vow to stay independent, to try to get the word out and to not be put in a certain category that the record company would want me to be in.

You know, I mean, I have to be free enough to write exactly what I want to write.

Now today is Dr. Martin Luther King Day and I want to thank you for sending me that the presentation on the email.

So I ask you a question about Dr. Martin Luther King.

You think some inroads have been made on what he was trying to approach?

Very little, very little.

And I only say that to say, but it has, as far as individuals have came together a lot better, you know, and that's what it's going to take like in the beginning that each individual have to do their part into really becoming a better person, not only to themselves, but to everyone around them.

But as far as, you know, I think some of the laws are still being ignored when it comes to equality and just a fair shake, you know, but that comes down to each individual because it doesn't matter, you know, what the law book says, you know, if an individual feels a certain way, that's the way they feel, you know, and there's nothing you can do about it.

And it's always a way around certain things.

So what people I think have to concentrate on is pretty much uplifting yourself first.

That way you can always uplift and inspire someone else.

Right on by jw.

Yeah yeah.

I got to one more time remind our listeners that they should head on right now, if they haven't already, to jw.com j a y dash o u b l e y o u dot com and you can get some sound sample on the mp3s and order up the CDs and just send JW an email.

If you just tuned in and missed out on the greater portion of the interview, just send me an email.

Eastwestdjol.com we'll be re airing it on the separate Internet feed.

I do on Saturday morning through Monday morning.

So 48 hours of JW.

That's gonna be great.

I'll be looking forward to listening to it again.

Oh yeah, I'll definitely be checking it out.

And I gotta thank you so much, Jay for stopping by the upper room and you know, you going to get continued support with me and the rest of the creative funksters out there.

Well, I appreciate it to the utmost, Joe.

I mean it's definitely very nice of you to, you know, take your time to do this and that you're in it this much to put your energy into it.

I appreciate it very much.

So we'll go out with two tracks from I'll see you soon.

This track I've been keeping Killing.

I've been playing it on the Internet show as well.

My stuff.

Okay.

Followed up by Funk and Roll.

Okay.

There you go.

Yeah.

So thanks again, jw.

Thank you Joe.

And we're gonna have you up here on the east and by that time we'll be pumping that new record too.

Oh yeah, without a doubt you'll be one of the first to get it, brother.

Okay, thanks so much, Jay.

Thank you.

J W from I'll see you soon.