Left-handed guitarist Jay Manley was instructed at an early age by his mother on piano, dulcimer and guitar. The Manley’s 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 a few years of clarinet, bass clarinet and baritone sax in school band, punk and new wave music exploded. Manley devoured the electric guitar and had been known to exhaust himself playing all night long. 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 UNCW. He studied classical guitar under Robert Nathanson and jazz under Frank Bongiorno. Extensive study of jazz, classical, theory and composition did not derail the desire to create rock music but rather nourished experimentation.

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. Jazz rock voicings and emancipated tonality are cleverly hidden in the pop dazzle. Manley’s curvilinear lead guitar approach is probably his most distinguishing trait: incorporating sitar derived techniques and gospel vocal inflected deep bends.

Manley is a private music instructor in Chapel Hill, NC and is currently studying the Hindustani or North Indian classical musical tradition, vocal and theory under 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 traditional groups with his rare left-handed Les Paul. Look for his performance at the Diwali Festival in Cary, NC on October 13th.