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| Sean Jones Celebrates His New CD Wednesday, September 27, trumpeter Sean Jones celebrates his new CD, Roots at the Iridium Jazz Club, NYC with Brian Hogans - alto & soprano sax, flute; Orrin Evans - piano; Luquez Curtis - bass; Obed Calvier - drums. Sean Jones embodies the 21st century jazz musician, an experimental, supremely talented type whose vision and sensibility encourages inclusion rather than separation. "Jazz embraces everything, " Jones says. "I'm not nearly arrogant enough to try and define it as one thing or one style. Jazz has always from its very beginning linked cultures, generations, and races. To pigeonhole it and say it can only do one thing to me does a disservice to it." Jones' previous releases as well as his forthcoming new Mack Avenue CD Roots (release date: September 12) exemplify that attitude of experimentation and diversity. He can swing or glide through an arrangement…play the blues or switch into a funk and soul mode. He's thoroughly versed in standards, but is also increasingly concentrating on writing his own work. He's comfortable in an acoustic or electric context, and enjoys working with vocalists as much as small combos or large orchestras. In short, Sean Jones simply loves music, yet prefers to consider himself a jazz player, albeit one without idiomatic restrictions. Roots renews Jones' love for the sound that initially hooked him as a youngster: gospel music."I grew up in church and was a singer, " Jones remembers. "I was in the choir and really didn't know what I wanted to play other than I didn't want it to be a saxophone because it seemed that's what everyone else was playing. Then a teacher gave me two Miles Davis albums, Tutu and Kind of Blue. That was it for me, right there in the fifth grade. Believe it or not, I never really gravitated toward pop music. It was jazz, as well as gospel and maybe an occasional oldie. But it was something about the horn that hooked me immediately." Sean Jones is one of the finest, most expressive and technically commanding players on his instrument. His facility was shaped by his studies in high school with classical trumpeter Esotto Pellegrini. Currently a professor of Jazz studies at Duquesne, Jones also studied with professor Bill Fielder, whose previous students included Wynton Marsalis. As the lead trumpeter in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Jones has proven on gigs with the orchestra, plus appearances on a pair of new Mack Avenue anthologies that he's a formidable soloist, inspiring bandleader, reliable ensemble contributor and dynamic force on the bandstand. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |