Jesse “Jay Moody, III was born in Baltimore, Maryland. At an early age he developed an interest in music and began playing the drums at age nine. Jesse recalls, “I would bang on anything… tables, windows, whatever could make a sound! “During his public school years Jesse played in various funk and gospel groups. Once he was enrolled at Towson State University in 1981 (now Towson University) his whole musical world changed. Jesse quickly wanted to learn jazz as the school had a reputation for having one of the best jazz programs in the country. He recalls, “there were such great musicians there at the time, like trumpeter Tommy Williams, drummer Adrian Green, and bassist Paul Gill.

In 1985, Jesse landed his first jazz gig with the Lewis Hamlin Big Band, an eighteen piece band that played a variety of styles of music, from swing to funk. “That was a great experience because I had to learn various styles of music”. Later, Jesse joined the Gene Walker Big Band in 1990. In the summer the band would perform at various venues around Baltimore. The band is also known as Baltimore’s Big Band.

In 2002, Jesse performed on Greg Thompkins debut CD, Comings and Goings. Jesse can also be heard on Steve Swann’s CD, He Has Yet to Come and Michael Raitzyk’s CD, Live at the Café Hon. Jesse has won several awards in his career, including 1986 Baltimore JazzQuest, in which the band opened for Bobby McFerrin at the Pier Six Concert Pavilion.

In his career as a sideman Jesse has been performed and/or recorded with some of the finest jazz musicians in the world, such as Phil Woods, Curtis Fuller, Cyruss Chestnutt, Larry Willis, Howard Burns, Terry Battle, Mitchell Coates, Frank Wess, Sonny Cohen, Buster Cooper, Vince Prudente, Paul Bollenback, George Culligan, Moe Daniels, Michael Raitzyk, Gary Thomas, Tommy Williams, Greg Hatza, Gary Grainger, Benjie Porecki, Maysa Leake, Brenda Alford, Ralph Llama, Greg Thompkins, Lafayette Gilchrist, Marshall Keys, Greg Boyer, Michael Bowie and many more. Jesse has been on numerous television and radio shows, including a film appearance in the Barry Levinson film, Avalon.