We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joe Marquez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joe below.

Joe, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

We are fortunate enough to live in a time where the decision to pursue a creative job or a regular job is becoming less bifurcated. I’m lucky to have a regular job working remotely as a business analyst for a private money lender where I express my creativity by providing logistical solutions for a company that truly values its employees. During my creative journey, I have focused not just on what I do to accomplish my music goals, but how I want to live while I pursue these dreams. This change in mindset has been a game-changer and has ultimately given me more time and resources to devote myself only to the projects I have serious interest in.

Joe, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

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.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

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 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.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

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: jayphoenixmusic.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/jayphoenixmusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jayphoenixproductions
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jayphoenixmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jayphoenixofficial
• Other: https://engineears.com/jayphoenixmusic

Image Credits
Solomon Augusteyn Jose Franco Hailey Marquez