Jay Sound Productions

Jel Jongen was born in Heerlen (The Netherlands). At the age of 7 he started going to music school and when he was 13 years old he did his first live radioperformance for KRO radio (“zin in muziek”).

During his study at the Conservatory in Hilversum he got the chance to play in some famous Dutch Radio- and TV-Orchestras, the Metropole Orchestra, the Skymasters Big Band and VARA’s Dans Orkest. During that time he als took part in the bands of Anita Meyer, René Froger, Lee Towers and André Hazes.

After graduating he toured Europe with the world-famous Glenn Miller Revival Orchestra.

In 1993 Jel founded the Jayhorns. Together with Serge Plume, Allard Buwalda and Eelco Oudolf he started working with big national and international artists. Some of the names are Lionel Richie, Lara Fabian, Zuchero, Paul Young, David Guetta, Nicki Minaj, Robert Palmer.

Well-known Dutch Artists are Marco Borsato, Paul de Leeuw, Alain Clark, Jan Smit, Nick en Simon and Rob de Nijs and many others.

At this moment the Jayhorns are the first-call horn section in the Dutch music scene.

Through Jay Sound Productions the Jayhorns have participated in a large number of music-productions with the likes of Marco Borsato, Paul de Leeuw,Guus Meeuwis, Alain Clark and countless other dutch artists.

In 2001 Jel has worked as an A&R manager for recordcompany EMI. In that period he was responsible for de development of artists like André Hazes, Rob de Nijs, Twarres and Trijntje Oosterhuis. 

Over time Jel has also been working as a Musical Director for Artists (Marco Borsato, Gerard Joling and Wolter Kroes) and TV-Shows like “Laat de Leeuw”, “Op zoek naar Joseph” and “Ik Hou Van Holland”. In most cases he was also involved as an arranger.

Nowadays Jel is part of the Edwin Evers Band as Trombone/Tuba player and arranger. 

As Musical Director:

Marco Borsato                          de Edwin Evers Band

Wolter Kroes                              Ik Hou van Holland

Laat de Leeuw                           Op Zoek naar Joseph

Gerard Joling                              De Grootste TeleBingo ooit

Het Nationaal Songfestival         Het Zilveren Harpen Gala

As A&R manager for EMI Records:

André Hazes                

Rob de Nijs

Twarres                

Trijntje Oosterhuis

With the Jayhorns:

Adele                         James Morrison

Michael Bublé            Duffy

Krystl                          Al Jarreau

Marc Broussard         Jamie Cullum

Lionel Richie              Zucchero

Paul Young                 Luther Allison

Alain Clark                 Michel LeGrand

Dieter Falk                 The Temptations

The Four Tops            UB 40

Shirley Bassey            David Guetta

Nicki Minaj                  Afrojack