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Hi there - I'm Jay Wasco. I'm
best known for dreaming up & playing the
Fractal Harp,
the
"Swiss Army Bass"
& the
"Egotar"
& having a band called
Johnny Skilsaw
-- and maintaining website- I do all
kinds of
music.
Thanks of visiting my website.
For the past few years I've been living on
farm
just outside Boston working on
this thing ,
composing
music and
consolidating ways and means of conceiving and
producing fully realized music in real time.
Most of what I do is even, hard to explain to
fellow musicians -
hence
this
website
I
grew up
in Southport ,CT where I played piano & guitar "by
ear" as a young kid. My father, an avid Jazz
fan/musicologist got me studying piano with his
friend the noted author/ Julliard instructor and
Jazz pianist
John Mehegan.
I performed in various bands though high school
playing keyboards and guitar while creating my own
compositions and gaining a basic knowledge of
recording and music production .
At 19, I
moved to NYC in pursuit of a career in music. Early
on, I discovered that I had the strange ability to
play the bass guitar and keyboards at the same time
and I began to develop the technique as well as an
instrument that I refer to as
"The
Swiss Army Bass."
Adventures lead me around the underground
NYC music scene where I eventually settled to a music
studio loft on west 14th St known as "Giant" frequented by an eclectic mix of musicians & bands.
I set up a crude, but effective recording studio and
proceeded develop my band
Johnny Skilsaw. To
make a living in NYC, I
played in,
recorded played in and/or produced numerous
hardcore, punk and reggae
bands
and artists
through the mid 80s into the 90s and in doing so
discovered unconventional production techniques
sending me in countless directions over the years.
Through
the 90's I developed my knack for composing
& recording
lush symphonic pieces which I harbor
with this old time radio show style thing" I produce known as
The Flying Shelsons. The
award winning LP entitled
The Diving Board
Though never officially "released", seeped out to
achieve cult status.
Johnny Skilsaw
became quite successful, wowing NYC audiences and
gaining the attention and assistance of
notables such Legendary record producer Jack Douglas and signed with
Tag/Atlantic in early 96 and again with Wild Pitch
Records
in '98. Sadly the Tag imprint was discontinued
Wild Pitch folded - thus the two
LPs
were never formally released.
I married
a beautiful woman and relocated to CT in 2000 where
we started a family. I
continued developing a unique creation dubbed
-The
Egotar-
and soon after The
Fractal Harp .
I evolved techniques enabling me compose & perform some
seriously intricate
arrangement
as well as compose and perform music for
TV Ads and
websites and contribute specialized musical
performance and to selected artists and
in. In 2004 this website launched and garnered
attention, particularly of acclaimed musicians and lead to some
notable
successes.
Opportunity led my family & I to a
beautiful farm outside Boston where we currently
reside .
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