Jazz music has been a part of the global cultural consciousness for generations. You hear it in malls, in movies, and in the cartoons you watch as a kid. Just about everything we know and love has a bit of that classic genre’s DNA. But how many of you have met a true, modern jazzman?
Renowned trombone player and musician G. Scott Jones has been a lifelong lover of music. He grew up in a house full of music. Among his first loves was the genre he champions now: jazz. But it all started at home.
“I could sit at the organ and just play it at home. I wasn’t necessarily good but I was exposed to it. I also sung in church,” said Jones.
This was his gateway into music, but he said his love of jazz was more specific. It began in Detroit, Michigan, where he lived at the time with his family.
“My love of jazz started with oldies from the Detroit area, because of my fathers love for listening to older music. The first record I had on repeat was one of Dixieland jazz that I listened to over and over again.”
This love of music followed him into his school years where he first attempted to join his school band in sixth grade, but was ultimately refused, unable to join till the next year. When he came in and was detoured from the trombone to the French horn.
Later in life he became an educator, beginning with private lessons while studying for his Master’s degree. It wasn’t his initial intent but Jones would realize he had a passion for teaching and saw it as a new way to share music with others.
Jones said, “I began teaching my first higher educational course at Concord University, where Ed Sarath brought me on to teach Jazz History. Afterwards I decided to get a doctorate from West Virginia University to further my teaching career and came back to Dayton permanently where I ended up working at Dayton Public Schools.”
Aside from education G. Scott Jones has used his musical prowess to form his own bands, compositions, as well as albums.
“One of the first compositions I wrote was for my middle school band. As soon as I got in I began trying to write my own music. That led to ‘Dance of the African Elephant’, which was inspired partly by something our band was playing at the time.”
Nowadays Jones writes primarily for his jazz group that he regularly performs with.
“Jazz Combo performs here and there in the Dayton area, and I am constantly writing music for them. As well as arrangements for jazz band, concert band, and marching band,” he said.
G. Scott Jones has multiple published composition works, and many more that he plans to have published that he has written. Other than his compositional pieces, Jones has written some albums. That includes “Walk With Me”, which was created as a homage to his late son.
“Learning, in fact, is part of what makes the journey worthwhile“
– G. Scott Jones
G. Scott Jones has formulated his own workout technique for jazz horn players called ‘Bodybuilding for Brass Players’. A big aspect of playing any instrument is having control of your whole body to be grounded, and if you work your body you understand it for other aspects of your life.
“Bodybuilding for brass players is just to develop a correlation between physical fitness and music, is to build good posture, and foundational stature in which will build their best natural way of playing,” said Jones.
It is but one of many ways Jones and other brass players are continuing to hone their craft. Success, as cited by the jazzman, is a process of continual development and growth.
Jones said, “Success is a journey as well as the steps take to do what a person has to do. It doesn’t come overnight and is continuous. There is always more to learn no matter who you are or what your level of experience is. Learning, in fact, is part of what makes the journey worthwhile.”
Faith Harrel, Reporter
(Featured Image provided by G. Scott Jones)