Jay Jennings is a Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter with Snarky Puppy. He grew up in the small town of Grapevine, TX. He was lucky to have a piano in the house growing up, which he considers his introduction to music education. Jennings started playing trumpet at age 11, and by 15, he was already playing professionally. In high school, he was selected to the Texas All-State Jazz Ensemble both sophomore and senior years, and he was selected for the High School Grammy Jazz Ensemble, which performed at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, CA. Jennings auditioned as a college freshman and was selected for a jazz soloist chair in the world-renowned One O'clock Lab Band at UNT.
When he was 22, Jennings joined the Dallas-based, symphonic rock band The Polyphonic Spree. He recorded and toured with them until moving to Brooklyn, NY in 2009. He eventually began touring with Capitol Records artist Eli "Paperboy" Reed in 2010.
Over the course of his career, Jennings has backed up some of the world's finest artists such as Aretha Franklin, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, The O'Jays, Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, The Four Tops, Broken Social Scene, Toby Keith and many more. Jennings lives in Los Angeles, CA.
