We recently connected with Joe Marquez and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joe, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Growing up as a classical pianist, I found immense inspiration from composers like Rachmaninoff, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky. When I was sixteen, I heard Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 from a random YouTube clip from the movie, “For Horowitz.” From that moment, I knew that I had to do everything I could to learn and perform the Rach. 2. On August 8th, 2009, this dream resulted in a performance of the final movement from this work with the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic.
There is something magical about a composer’s ability to create an idea that can, over a century later, inspire an artist to spend several months learning to perform that idea so that it can be shared with other musicians and an audience for a brief 15 minutes. That day still burns within me and is a huge source of passion and purpose that propels me through my daily life. This experience is what inspires me to leave my musical creations behind so that future musicians can hopefully experience even a small fraction of what I felt when hearing the Rach. 2 for the first time.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
The identity of Jay Phoenix was created just after I finished my undergraduate studies at Yale. Up until then, academic and scholastic achievements were the primary driving force behind my ambitions; however, this largely left me unfulfilled. After getting a B.S. in Psychology and completing the premedical requirements, the most magical experience during my academic career was learning how to compose, spending several long nights in the music notation lab. Even though I entered college as a classical pianist, I left with the realization that composition was going to be the primary way for me to contribute to the musical conversation during my lifetime. After graduating college, I decided to put my academic pursuits aside to begin a new life as a full-fledged creative aiming to integrate classical music and jazz with pop and EDM. Joe (Jay) Marquez began a new life as Jay Phoenix.
This decision began the 9 year journey that I continue to enjoy today. In this time, I have scored for short films, produced and engineered sessions in the studio with various pop artists, and collaborated with producers and composers alike to help realize diverse artistic visions. It has even led me to my wife, who is my number one music (and everything) partner and co-creator of JAY II music (jaythesecondmusic.com).
Just as I use my analytical brain to solve business problems at my regular job, I use my background in music production and classical composition to create and produce music fast and use this expertise to paint musical canvases in any genre. Clients come to me with a variety of musical needs, and I approach all of these needs with a confidence that I can fulfill them with a breadth of musical knowledge. This had allowed me to participate in a variety of different projects. Some are:
-Creating a fully-orchestrated arrangement of a song written by a retired orthodontic surgeon who, after nearly dying from COVID, began writing music by ear for the first time in his life.
-Splicing together Pink’s “Get This Party Started” and Michael Bublé’s “I’m Feeling Good” to create a special and light-hearted moment for a newly-wed couple.
-Creating a piano arrangement and singing a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” for a director’s video aiming to bring awareness to gun violence.
-Getting Dolby Atmos certified through Engineears.com to help meet the growing demand of surround sound mixing for new music releases.
-Performing in church ensembles using lead sheets and having to create impromptu arrangements of pieces like “Gabriel’s Oboe”.
-Creating an artist persona where I can celebrate my love of coffee by producing coffee-based lofi tracks.
The happiness that my clients feel when they see their musical vision realized is what keeps the fire burning in me. I’m grateful for every opportunity where I can share my knowledge and contribute my skills to anyone’s musical endeavors.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Break it down. Whether it’s starting a business, practicing a difficult musical piece, or producing a song, it may seem intimidating when starting out. How is my idea going to translate into products that I can sell online? How am I going to memorize, let alone learn, a 30-minute piano concerto? I have some interesting ideas in my head and some lyrics I’ve written down, but how will I capture them into radio-ready songs for my target audience and playlist submissions? The answer to these questions is found in taking the seemingly insurmountable task and reducing it to bite-sized daily actions. For me, it’s looking at the first 4 measures of a piano composition, or even the first measure, and intimately getting it under my hands for 2 hours, rather than trembling before the thought of learning an entire piece. Rinse and repeat for the next several pages. It’s also building a track by picking the drums, then bass, then pads, then leads, then filling in the vocals. Once I’m at that stage, it’s tweaking all of the ingredients to make a mix that is ready to go. Sectioning your projects into smaller steps will expedite your progress tremendously, regardless of how huge they may appear in the beginning.
2. Embrace feedback. When I started as a producer, it was frustrating when the ideas in my head didn’t fully translate to the track I was working on. This time was arguably the most important time of my music production career. It was making music that didn’t hit right, seeking feedback, then recalibrating. Negative feedback from peers with good intentions is one of the most valuable tools when mastering your art. When looking at music from a pragmatic perspective, you can make music that you love all you want, but to succeed in the industry, I believe you have to make music you love while blending it with what people are resonating with at the moment. Being open to constructive feedback is key if you want to make art that resonates with the largest amount of consumers.
3. Collaborate. We’re stronger together. Being accountable to other artists has helped me step up my production and time management skills over the past several years. When collaborating with artists, their feedback would push me to learn why my bass wasn’t loud enough, or why my vocals didn’t cut through enough, or why my sound selection sounded dated when I first started out. When working alone, you can think your art is perfectly hitting the mark; however, having artists with similar goals around you will not only give you positive feedback when you may be too critical, but they will help you uncover blindspots you might not be fully attuned to yet. This is because your success is also their success, and this relationship can help both of you push through whatever blocks that may come up. My wife and I just finished an EP called kaleidoscope for our JAY II duo. With each project we complete together, her musical ear sharpens my own ear when it comes to vocal processing, sound design choices, and lyrical content. Surround yourself with positive people that you can mutually support and celebrate wins with to make the journey exponentially more rewarding, productive, and enjoyable.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
Adam Grant’s “Originals” is a book I think all creatives should read. For creatives or entrepreneurs to succeed, there is a narrative that they need to give up everything to realize their dreams, but that is not the case. Grant outlines many examples of accomplished business owners and creatives that mitigated their risk by balancing a fledgling creative career with opportunities that yielded more consistent income.
This thinking inspired how I approach my own musical objectives today. In addition to my Jay Phoenix persona, I started “latte noir”, an artist portfolio that focuses solely on coffee-based lofi music. Rather than playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the gig economy, I found employment with a company where I could express my creativity and a long-dormant analytical side to me that was left behind after graduating college. Instead of focusing solely on being Jay Phoenix, I curate and diversify my projects and employment to cover more artistic and financial ground, making my day-to-day life more efficient and fulfilling. I think all creatives and entrepreneurs would benefit from borrowing some of the ideas presented in “Originals”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jayphoenixmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayphoenixmusic
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jayphoenixmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jayphoenixofficial
- SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/iTaVsuXjgyKdsXqY6
- Other: https://engineears.com/jayphoenixmusic
Image Credits
Solomon Augusteyn Jose Franco Hailey Marquez
