Jay Rosen

Who is Jay Rosen?

Jay Rosen is an American jazz drummer. Rosen is a member of Trio X with trumpeter/saxophonist Joe McPhee and double bassist Dominic Duval, and performs in Cosmosomatics with saxophonist Sonny Simmons.

At age 10, Rosen became interested in jazz drumming after seeing Tony Williams perform with Sonny Rollins. He took lessons from Tracy Alexander, son of Mousey Alexander. Later, he would briefly study with Barry Altschul.

Around age 18, Rosen became a professional musician, and played in a variety of settings, such as studio work, weddings and cocktail lounges, as well as in various musical styles, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country, jazz, and Brazilian music. His recording career in improvised music began in the mid-1990s, when he recorded Split Personality with Mark Whitecage and Dominic Duval. He began an association with the CIMP label in 1996, and as of April 2011 has appeared on at least fifty CIMP albums. Todd Jenkins describes Rosen and Duval as the "house rhythm section" for CIMP, given the number of recordings on which they have jointly appeared.