Jazz on Jay wraps up with Doc Horton’s Jay Street Band

Jazz on Jay wraps its 14-show season with a funky soul party by Doc Horton’s Jay Street Band.

His “Doc” title refers to a Ph.D. from Penn State, which launched a long career as a Professor of Sociology but also brought a 34-year hiatus from music.

His late mother, Bernice J. Horton, exposed Horton to Gospel, soul, and pop. He started performing in his teens—his first band was the Soul Yuneeks—inspired as a singer by the Temptations and Michael Jackson, as an entertainer by James Brown and Tina Turner, and as a producer by Smokey Robinson, Norman Whitfield, Thom Bell, and Isaac Hayes. 

Returning to music in 2012, Horton founded his Jay Street Band, saying, “I don’t want to be a star; I want to make stars!” The current lineup was solidified earlier this year: a “Motown pop-funk band,” as Horton says. They play songs by the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Kool and the Gang, James Brown, Billy Preston, the Commodores, Rick James, Ray Charles, the Band, and Bruno Mars, including “Uptown Funk,” “People Get Ready,” “My Girl,” “Superstition,” “Give It to Me Baby,” “Ladies Night,” “Easy,” “Brick House,” “Will It Go Round in Circles,” “The Weight,” and “Celebration.”

“We make each song our own,” he said. “There is a lot of room for improvisation… We are a party band and like to keep the crowd dancing.”

Doc Horton’s Jay Street Band is Horton, lead vocals; Randall Martin, drums; LaTaunya French and Dan Goss, keyboards; Calvin Young and Ky McClinton, guitars; and Enoch Thompson, bass.

All Jazz on Jay concerts are free thanks to support from the New York State Council on the Arts, Schenectady County, the Upstate Coalition for a Fair Game, the Schenectady Foundation, and the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation. www.nippertown.com is the series media sponsor.

Showtime is at noon at the Jay Street Marketplace. Rain site: Robb Alley at Proctors, adjacent to Apostrophe.