Saxophonist Ron Jones at Jazz Central

By

Don Henke

For the Dayton Daily News

DAYTON  - Louisville alto and soprano saxophonist Ron Jones will be back in town on April 1, no fooling.

This time he'll be playing at Jazz Central 2931 E. Third St, for a 9 p.m. show.  He played an Oregon Historic District club a few weeks ago and has done club dates in Cincinnati, so he's becoming known throughout the area.

Jones' main influence is Julian "Cannonball " Adderley, and it shows.  His attack on uptempo numbers is pure Cannonball, although he can't be accused of copying.  It's the style playing that differentiates an altoist who follows Adderley, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges or Benny Carter.

"The first alto player I started to study was Charlie Parker," he says, "then Sonny Stitt.  But Cannonball added something a little bit different to the mix that I was looking for.  He added some serious soulfulness, some serious swinging, yet bluesy at the same time.'

Jones went to see Branford Marsa­lis in Louisville in 1988 and was asked to sit in with Marsalis, the late Kenny Kirkland, Reginald Veal and Jeff '"Tain'" Watts.  "I was scared to death, but it was one of the greatest experi­ences I've ever had," he said.

He received a full scholarship in music to Florida University and graduated cum laude in 1980 with a bachelors in music education.  He has taught at several schools but now does strictly private teaching with some 60 students a week, working six days.  To his credit, he has stayed around his hometown, although that can be a detriment because he’s not heard in places "where it matters."

That changed a little when he recorded his first CD, A Vision Beauty in 1997.  He sent copies to some of the most influential radio person­alities in the country.  Jim Wilke, whose Jazz After Hours show from Seattle is heard locally on WMUB-FM (88.5), said, “One of the special pleasures of doing a nationally broadcast jazz radio show every week is coming into contact with lots of great players outside the major jazz centers.  Ron Jones is representative of the kind of talent out there, maybe in your own hometown."

Add to that that Ron Jones is a player at one with his instrument, and he moves over it with the surety and confidence of one beyond his years.

Since the CD's release, Jones has since ventured out to gigs in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.  With his intense teaching schedule it's hard for him to go any further, but he is finally becoming known outside of Kentucky

Don Henke is a free-lance writer who covers jazz for the Dayton Daily News. Contact him by e-mail at papajazz@earthlink.net.