Sean Jones (trumpeter)


Sean Jones is an American trumpeter and composer featured on the 2007 Grammy Award-winning album Turned to Blue by Nancy Wilson. As a bandleader, Jones has released seven albums under the Mack Avenue Records label. He performs with his own groups both nationally and internationally. Jones often plays at music venues and jazz festivals such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, Detroit International Jazz Festival, the Vail Jazz Festival and Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Background

Among Jones' first musical experiences were the gospel music he heard while attending Saint James' Church of God in Christ in Warren, Ohio, where he sang and performed with the choir. As a beginning musician, Jones started on the drums and switched to trumpet in the fifth grade after his grandmother told him about his grandfather playing the instrument during World War II. Jones developed an interest in jazz music around the same time, after receiving two Miles Davis albums from his band instructor, namely Kind of Blue and Tutu.
By the time he entered Warren G. Harding High School, Jones had decided to pursue a career as a professional musician, and studied classical trumpet as well as jazz. In 2000, Jones obtained an undergraduate degree in classical trumpet performance from Youngstown State University and later a master's degree from Rutgers University, where he studied under Professor William Fielder, who had also taught Wynton Marsalis, among others. As a session musician, Jones has performed with several notable ensembles and musicians, including Tia Fuller, Gerald Wilson, Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Jon Faddis, Jimmy Heath and Frank Foster.
In 2004, Jones had a six-month stint with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, after which Marsalis offered him a position with the ensemble as a third trumpeter then moved to the lead chair a couple months later. Around the same time, Jones became a music professor at Duquesne University, and lived in the Pittsburgh area for several years. Jones has recently been selected as the Interim Artistic Director for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra. He became an associate professor of Jazz Trumpet at Oberlin Conservatory for the 2012-2013 academic year. He was a member of the SFJAZZ Collective from 2015 - 2017. He previously served as head of the Brass Department at Berklee College of Music. He currently serves as the chair of the jazz studies department of the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Jones is also on the board of directors and is president-elect of Jazz Education Network.
Jones is currently represented by Unlimited Myles, Inc.

Discography

As leader