Manley received his first guitar at eighteen months old and was instructed by his mother on guitar, piano and dulcimer. His family moved from suburban Baltimore by way of southern California to Wilmington, NC where Jay listened to his sister’s Beatles albums religiously and picked out melodies by ear.
After studying clarinet, bass clarinet and baritone sax in school band, punk and new wave music surfaced---bringing new ideas to guitar. Manley took to the electric guitar as his main instrument. There were a few high school rock bands where, even then, the trio appeared his favorite arrangement.
Manley was an A. J. Fletcher Scholar and received a B.A. in music from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He studied classical guitar under Robert Nathanson, jazz with Frank Bongiorno and composition with Dr. Steven Errante. Extensive study of jazz, classical, theory and composition did not derail the desire to create rock music but rather nourished experimentation stretching its boundaries.
Cultivating the music and career of the band Velvet, formed with wife and bassist Jane Francis, has been the main focus for more than a decade. Jay’s guitar contribution to Velvet is a stew of rock, new wave, chicken pickin’ country, sixties British hot-rodded blues, jazz fusion and raga rock. His curvilinear lead guitar approach is probably his most distinguishing trait: incorporating sitar techniques and gospel vocal influenced bends.
He is currently studying the Hindustani or North Indian classical musical tradition under renowned guru and vocalist Madhu Mita Sen Saha. This has led to tremendous musical involvement in the Indian community of Raleigh, Apex and Morrisville North Carolina. He is often spotted accompanying Bengali groups and performing ragas live with his rare left-handed Les Paul. Wes Lambe has designed Jay a semi-hollow body electric guitar with sympathetic and chikari strings much like the sitar. Director Nic Beery has produced a short documentary about the making of the instrument.
Melting of the Globe - Jay Manley & his Saraswati Guitar from nic beery on Vimeo .