While under the direction of Jay Morlot, the Bushwackers won five of their six Drum Corps Associates (DCA) World Championships. He served as director/president of the Bushwackers from 1987 to 2011 and in 2015 he returned to serve as co-executive director and board member.
For many of those years, he also performed in the percussion section, beginning in 1982. He is widely admired for his vision and desire to see DCA and Drum and Bugle Corps in general move forward. Among other propositions involving DCA, he proposed the use of B flat instruments.
His drum corps activities began when he marched in the percussion section of Hawthorne Muchachos in 1976 and 1977. From 1979 to 1981 he was a member of the percussion section of Fantasia III drum and bugle corps from Little Falls, New Jersey, formed by the merger of Imperial Knights, Dynamic Royalairs and Valley Grenadiers.
Jay was named a member of the New Jersey Drum Corps Hall of Fame in 2015.