THE USUAL SUSPECTS | Dr. Gio Washington-Wright's Top Los Angeles Studio Musicians Tribute Site

Listen to an AWESOME interview of Jerry about his life and career here:
http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Jerry Hey on JPR.mp3
(this interview is over an hour long!)

The interview also includes commentary by:
Gary Grant
Cindy Hey (Jerry's wife)
Chuck Findley
and
Arturo Sandoval

THE JERRY HEY TRIBUTE PAGES

Jerry began his studio career in L.A. in 1976. Jerry was born (1950) and raised in Dixon, Illinois. The outstanding reputation of Indiana University's music program attracted him there, but after attending for two years, he wanted to put what he had learned to work. While at Indiana, Jerry met Larry Williams and Kim Hutchcroft, who all three, would later become the legendary Seawind Horns.

Jerry on how he got into horn arranging:

"My father played trombone and my mother played piano. I also have two
older brothers who played brass instruments, so there was music
around the house all the time. I began playing trumpet at a very early
age, and studied to be a professional musician. then when I was with
Seawind, we moved to Los Angeles, where we played every Tuesday for a
couple years at the Baked Potato. Soon after that Quincy Jones heard
about the horn section and called us in on one of his recordings. From
that point on Quincy was responsible for my being an arranger. he
gave me the freedom to try anything and taught me what did and didn’t
work, and how I could improve on what I had done."

A snippet of Jerry's recent interview with Film Music magazine

available at www.filmmusicmag.com

FMM: Who are your favorite trumpet players to work with?

JH: I have worked with Gary Grant for 35 years now, so it's like
playing with your best friend and your brother.... Malcolm McNab is
certainly one of the finest trumpet players in L.A. for the movies.
I've seen him in some pretty dangerous situations and he always comes
through. Warren Luening is also another great trumpet player. There
are are quite a few here... Chuck Findley can play anything.

FMM: How does the fact that you've got perfect pitch affect play
into what you do and is it a curse or a blessing?

JH: It's a little bit of both, actually. As an arranger, which is
what I'm known for, people send me CD's or mp3's of songs with no
music that they want you to do an arrangement for. You have to have
a copy of the chords and the form of the song, so with perfect pitch,
doing that is like reading for me. I can hear a song one time and in
the time that it takes to play, I can take off the chords and the
form and have all the appropriate chord voicings down pretty well...

FMM: What do you like in terms of microphones?

JH: For trumpet, we've been using Royer a lot.... In certain
situations where there's high intensity...where the trumpets really
need to kick and you need a little more top end, I have a Neumann M54
tube that I had Klaus Heyne redo... I love, of course, the Neumann
U67 and U47, although it's hard to find really good ones. The AKG
414...that's one tough mic for a trumpet...it certainly brings out
all the nasty parts of the trumpet...It certainly wouldn't be my
microphone of choice for trumpet.

FMM: Do you still play trumpet every day?

JH: I do whether I need to or not. I will do that probably as long
as I'm here. It's in my daily routine, and if I don't do it, I feel
guilty.... My trumpet teacher, Mr. William Adam from Indiana
University, was maybe the greatest person I've ever met; he instilled
a work ethic that everybody that's ever taken from him has gotten in
their blood. So I'll be playing trumpet for a while.

RARE JERRY HEY AUDIO

"I Keep Callin'" - Al Jarreau

This is one of those great tunes that time has forgotten. "I Keep Callin'" was originally released as a single, and was also added (in limited edition) to the cassette version of Al Jarreau's "Jarreau" record. Once again, Al, Jerry, producer / writer / guitarist Jay Graydon and the Hey Horns are in amazing form. This site may be the only place on the internet to find this lost treasure - GW.

MOVED TO JERRY HEY TRIBUTE PAGE #2 (new, remixed VERSION!)

"The Sterling Shuffle"

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Sterling Shuffle.mp3

Trumpets: Jerry, Charlie Davis, Gary Grant, Larry Hall.

"Bix" - Airplay

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Bix.mp3

Trumpets: Jerry, Gary Grant, Steve Madaio; Trombones: Bill Reichenbach, Charlie Loper, Lew McCreary

"Girls Know How" - Al Jarreau

This is from the movie "Night Shift" starring Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton. It is an underrated, awesome tune written by Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Al Jarreau, David Foster, and studio guitarist Jay Graydon. Jerry's horn arrangement makes it even better.

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/GirlsKnowHow.mp3

Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about Jerry. He really is directly responsible for me being a musician. Jerry is single-handedly responsible for the way we arrange, play, and record horns in popular music. It seems like I learned everything I needed to know about musicianship and arranging just from listening to those amazing EWF, Michael Jackson, and Al Jarreau records as a kid. My mom would always look at me strangely because I never listened to the vocals... I was always way more interested in what was going on with the background players, especially the horn players. Looking at my parents records, I started to notice the same name popping up over and over again: "Jerry Hey". I thought, "Who is this guy?". Over time, as I learned more about him, I started to understand his genius... and (this is the one thing that got me the most about him) how he is absolutely uncomprising with regard to level of commitment. 150% ALL of the time (he surrounds himself with like-minded players, which is why he's played with the same nucleus of guys for the past 25 years) . I use that in my own playing everyday.

Back in 1990, I was a sophomore at the University Of Wisconsin. One day, I decided to to get Jerry's phone number and call him. Once I got my nerves together, I did -- but got only his answering service. I was very disappointed. The woman said from his service said, "I'll take your number and he'll get back to you". I thought, "Yeah, right. I know how busy he is.". So, the next day, the phone rang. I answered. This voice said, "Hello, is Giovanni there?". I replied, "This is he.". He said, "Hi, this is Jerry Hey". I almost dropped the phone. We proceeded to talk for 2 hours... on his dime. He even invited me to his wife's family reunion in Rockford, IL. (about 45 minutes away). I'll never forget that. He is the reason for me not only being a musician, but this website's existence. Much Love, Jerry. - GW

The Jerry Hey horns: Gary Grant, Jerry Hey, Bill Reichenbach, Dan Higgins, and Larry Williams

My top 10 favorite Jerry Hey horn arrangements:

(this was DIFFICULT...)

"Boogie Down" - Al Jarreau

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/BoogieDown.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary Grant, Chuck Findley - trumpets; Bill Reichenbach and Charlie Loper - trombones

"Hey Mambo" - Barry Manilow

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/HeyMambo.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary, Larry Hall - trumpets; Bill and Charlie - trombones; Tom Scott - saxophones

"High Crime" - Al Jarreau

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/HighCrime.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary, Chuck - trumpets; Bill and Charlie - trombones (same on "Imagination")

"Imagination" - Al Jarreau

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Imagination.mp3

"Lady Sun" - Earth, Wind, and Fire

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/LadySun.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary, Chuck, Larry, and Oscar Brashear - trumpets; Bill, Charlie, George Bohanon, Lew McCreary, and Dick Hyde - trombones

"Let Me Talk" - Earth, Wind, and Fire

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/LetMeTalk.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary, Chuck - trumpets; Bill, Charlie - trombones; Fred Jackson - saxophones

"Rosanna" - Toto

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Rosanna.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary - trumpets; Tom Scott, Jim Horn - saxes; James Pankow - trombone

"Tip Of My Tongue" - The Tubes

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/TipOfMyTongue.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary, Chuck - trumpets; Bill - trombone; Larry Williams and Gary Herbig - saxophones (same for "Wild Women Of Wongo")

"Wild Of Women Of Wongo" (horn break) - The Tubes

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/WildWomenOfWongo (Horn Break).mp3

"Working Day And Night" - Michael Jackson

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/WorkingDayAndNight.mp3

Horns: Jerry and Gary - trumpets, Bill - trombone, Larry Williams and Kim Hutchcroft - saxophones

10 by Jerry you may not have heard or remember...

"Mean Ol' Lion" - "The Wiz" Motion Picture Soundtrack

After the departure of Bobby Bryant, Quincy Jones tauted Jerry as the next big thing. So, he became Quincy's first-call lead trumpet player. This clip is neat in that it catches a very young Jerry right at the beginning of his career -- playing lead in this section of heavyweights like Gary Grant, Jon Faddis, Randy Brecker, and Alan Rubin (The runs up to double "A" are ridiculous on this one!).

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Mean Ol' Lion.mp3

Jerry is not just a great horn section player and arranger, but also a world-class lead player. Check out the next 3 clips (listen to the fireworks at the end on "In The Mood"! Jerry places his personal stamp on each tune.

"In The Mood" - "In The Mood" Motion Picture Soundtrack

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/In The Mood.mp3

Trumpets: Jerry, Gary Grant, Rick Baptist, Warren Luening, Oscar Brashear

"Palo Bonito" - Les Elgart Big Band

Trumpets: Jerry, Charley Davis, Gary Grant, Larry Hall

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Palo Bonito.mp3

"Sing Sing Sing" - "Swing Kids" Motion Picture Soundtrack

Trumpets: Jerry, Gary Grant, Chuck Findley, Larry Hall

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Sing Sing Sing.mp3

"You Are A Winner" - Earth, Wind, and Fire

Horns: same as "Lady Sun"

Jerry told me that this is his favorite horn arrangement of all he's ever done

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/You Are A Winner.mp3

"Invitation" - Larry Williams

This is not Jerry's arrangement (it's his old Seawind buddy, Larry Williams'). However, Jerry still sounds burnin' playing lead on a tune where Larry assembled the old Seawind section: Jerry, Gary Grant, Chuck Findley, Bill Reichenbach and himself. The great Pauline Wilson (of Seawind) is on vocals.

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Invitation.mp3

"Let's Get Serious" - Jermaine Jackson

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/LetsGetSerious.mp3

"Lambada Nova" - Yutaka

Horns: Jerry, Gary Grant, Kim Hutchcroft, Bill Reichenbach

A little different for Jerry, but still another great horn chart. Pauline Wilson is again on vocals

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Lambada Nova (You're Good for Me).mp3

"Mambo Mucho Ado" - Bill Reichenbach

Horns: Jerry, Gary Grant, Bill Reichenbach, Dan Higgins

Again, this is not Jerry's horn chart - but I decided to include it because it's vintage Jerry. It's the theme to HBO's comedy series "One Night Stand"

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Mambo Mucho Ado.mp3

10 more GREAT ones!...

"Black and Blues" - Al Jarreau

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/BlackAndBlues.mp3

Horns: same as "Boogie Down"

"Burn This Disco Out" - Michael Jackson

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/BurnThisDiscoOut.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary Grant, Bill Reichenbach, Kim Hutchcroft, Larry Williams

"Can't Wait" - Seawind

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/Can't Wait.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary Grant, Bill Reichenbach, Kim Hutchcroft, Larry Williams

"Evolution Orange" - Earth, Wind, and Fire

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/EvolutionOrange.mp3

Horns: same as "Lady Sun"

"In The Stone" - Earth, Wind, and Fire

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/InTheStone.mp3

Horns: Jerry, Gary Grant, Bobby Bryant, Elmer Brown, Steve Madaio, Oscar Brashear - trumpets; Bill Reichenbach, George Bohanon, Garnett Brown, Benny Powell, Maurice Spears - trombones

"Love Is Waiting" - Al Jarreau

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/LoveIsWaiting.mp3

Horns: same as "Boogie Down"

"Save Me" - Al Jarreau

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/SaveMe.mp3

Horns: same as "Boogie Down"

"Step By Step" - Al Jarreau

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/StepByStep.mp3

Horns: same as "Boogie Down"

"Sticky Wicket" - Al Jarreau

http://www.lastudiomusicians.net/StickyWicket.mp3

Horns: same as "Imagination"