Jay Leonhart

Jay Leonhart grew up in a musical family. His parents, sisters, and brothers (6 kids in all), were all musically inclined. Everyone played the piano. By the age of seven, Jay and his older brother Bill were playing banjos and guitars and mandolins and basses. They played country music, jazz -- anything with a beat. In their early teens, Jay and Bill were television stars in Baltimore and were touring the country performing on their banjos. When Jay was fourteen he started playing the bass in The Pier Five Dixieland Jazz Band in Baltimore.