Anthology

Jessy J (Jessica Arellano) is Mexican-American jazz saxophonist who was raised in Hemet, California, and began playing piano at the age of 4.

At the age of 15, at the Bela Bartok Festival, she won the Piano State Championship, and played saxophone in state honored bands, such as the Grammy Band, and at international festivals like the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

Earning a scholarship to University of Southern California,[4] she obtained a degree in jazz studies and was named the “Most Outstanding Jazz Student.”

After graduating from USC, she worked in the studio with Michael Bublé and toured with The Temptations, Jessica Simpson, and Michael Bolton, whom she still, occasionally, tours with.

Prior to being a studio musician and touring as a jazz artist, Jessy J performed on the cast of the Off-Broadway play Blast! as asaxophonist and singer and also as actress and dancer.

Jessy J’s recording career began after producer/guitarist Paul Brown listened to her demo and gave her a spot on his tour. She soon began making solo appearances. Her first major solo performance was at the Catalina JazzTrax Festival in 2006.

Soon afterward, she and Paul Brown were in the studio recording her first album, “Tequila Moon.”

Since beginning her career, she has toured with other Jazz artists, such as Jeff Lorber, Jeff Golub, Euge Groove, and Paul Brown. Since2008, she has been a part of the Guitars & Saxes tour.

At the age of 27, Jessy J has built up a Latin following, lending her hand in Hispanic music programs and performing with the Hispanic Musician Association Orchestra.

She has also worked in Mexico with artists Gloria Trevi (known as the Madonna of Mexico) and Armando Manzanero (whom she calls “the Mancini of Mexico”).

Her song, Tequila Moon hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Jazz chart. Her song Tropical Rain, from her 2009 release, reached the top of the Groove Jazz Music chart and also took the #1 spot on the Smooth Jazz Top 20Countdown, as well as the R&R and Billboard Jazz charts.

In 2008 she was named Radio and Records “Debut Artist of the Year.” She also received the “Contemporary Jazz Song of the Year” award from R&R and Billboard for her song “Tequila Moon.”