07/20/16 Jerry Hey – Grammy-Winning Horn Arranger and Session Trumpeter on MJ’s “Thriller”

Jerry Hey is thee world class trumpeter, arranger and orchestrator whose career has spanned over four decades. From Dixon Illinois, born to a pianist mother and trombonist father, with older brothers who played trombone and tuba. He started playing at an early age on his older brother’s boy scout bugle. Jerry studied in high school with Charlie Geyer from the Chicago Symphony and then went to Indiana University where he also studied with William Adam. He connected with lifelong friend, Larry Hall and others who lured Jerry to Hawaii for gigs. After that, Larry Williams came and joined with Ken Wild, Bob Wilson, Kim Hutchcroft and Pauline to form The great band, Seawind. Seawind moved to L.A. in 1976 and recorded two albums for CTI Records. The great Quincy Jones asked Jerry to play and arrange on Q’s record, “I Heard That”. That was the catalyst which put Jerry as Quincy’s “go to guy” . Next was the Brothers Johnson’s, BLAM which hit #1 on the R&B charts. Not only did the future six-time Grammy winner become Jones’ “first call” horn arranger on all his subsequent projects (George Benson’s Give Me the Night; Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad), but Hey became the go-to trumpeter and horn arranger in the industry, contributing to some of the biggest records of the subsequent decades including Chaka Khan’s “I Know You, I Live You,” Al Jarreau’s “Boogie Down,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove,” Toto’s “Rosanna,” Teena Marie’s “Behind the Groove,” Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls”.
Today, the Illinois native is still one of the most dependable musicians in the business, having worked on recent records from Mary J. Blige, Wilco, Fall Out Boy, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, D.J. Cassidy and Dirty Loops.