Jay is the son of two accomplished musicians.  His Father, John Zanotti, played Alto Sax for The Johnny Murphy Orchestra while his Mother, Judith Bailey, was their lead vocalist.  Jay developed his love of music while still in the womb.

At age six, he received his first drum set.  He began taking lessons at Murphy's Music Center and soon thereafter joined the elementary band.  Performing at home for family and in marching and concert bands served to fuel his love of music and entertaining. 

Advancing from local drums to studying percussion at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Olmstead, Jay eventually worked up to performing with his parents and The Johnny Murphy Orchestra.   He played with them at local festivals and concerts where he was given the chance to perform such inspiring classics as Mercy, Mercy and Kansas City.   At that time Buddy Rich was his biggest influence.  While still in high school, his influences broadened to include The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Back and Jimmy Page.

After playing the drums for various garage bands he found that other instruments were beginning to peak his interest.   This led to Jay teaching himself to play guitar.  His first guitar was a Zenon. 

In 1978, his senior year of high school, Jay met fellow classmate, Mark Weber.  Together they started writing their own songs, practiced in Jay's basement and formed the band, Luger.  Luger was a popular band on the local scene.

After about a year the band moved in a different direction, replacing and adding members and eventually became known as No Smokin.  New member, Eric Mrasz brought a strong vocal and percussion talent to the group.

Around this time, Jay became interested in keyboards and bought an old Farfica organ and 145 Leslie cabinet.  That's when he fell in love with the sound of the Leslie speaker, of which he now owns four. 

By the early 80's, the band added more talent.  Jay's sister, Lorey, joined the group on vocals.  This new lineup provided the opportunity for stronger vocal arrangements and three part harmonies.  The band was renamed Spice and covered songs by Heart and Fleetwood Mac among others. 

In the late 80's their music was starting to change. The band became known as ZMW (Zanotti, Mrasz and Weber).

Jay married Lynette Banichar, his sweetheart and inspiration for his song writing.  ZMW started recording on a four track recorder and produced a cassette titled Crazy bout Love. 

It was not long after that that Jay and the band traveled to Weirton, WV to produce their first CD, On The Rail with Rick Ritkowski of Studio-L.  Jay's Grandfather is featured on the cover of the CD.  On The Rail opened new doors for the band by allowing them to open for such national acts as Molly Hatchet, Blue Oyster Cult and Billy Price.  They also played live on WDVE, one of Pittsburgh's top radio stations.

Jay has since converted his attic into a studio (ZMW ATTIC STUDIO) to produce CD quality recordings.  They feature recording equipment such as Foster, Mackie, Alesis, Roland, AKG, Shure, and Audio-Technical to name a few.  He also has Fender Strats, G & L guitars, Marshall and Peavey tube amps and Digitech processors along with the 145 and 147 Leslie speakers and a Hammond Organ.

Jay is not a full time musician.   He's also a production supervisor at Redland Brick, Inc., a company that produces building brick.  Some of Jay's interests besides music include raising German Sheperds (Roze' and Roxe'), skiing, riding his Harley, hiking, camping, woodworking and remodeling.

"By being a guitarist/keyboardist/ percussionist/producer/singer/ songwriter/composer helps me make it through life with a smile.  I have many people to thank for that.  My wife, grandparents, parents, sister, bandmates, nieces, extended family, godchildren, friends, dogs and of course, God!"