Jones grew up in Englewood, New Jersey.[2] He is the brother of the musician Patrick Stanfield Jones.[3] As a teenager he studied under percussionists Babatunde Lea, Marvin "Bugalu" Smith, Congolese drummers Titos Sompa and Coster Massamba, Charli Persip and Max Roach. Jones began playing percussion professionally at the age of 13 with a group called Spoonbread, who were signed to All Platinum Records of Englewood, NJ. In 1978, aged 18, he played in a sextet led by Charles McPherson on the album Free Bop![2][4] He studied music at the University of Massachusetts and Jazzmobile simultaneously until 1979, when his Professor, saxophonist Archie Shepp, took him on tour to Europe, where he recorded his second album. Just months later he was hired by The Isley Brothers and toured and later recorded a host of records with them.
Bill Milkowski writing in JazzTimes described Jones's first album as leader, Tenth World, produced by Babatunde Lea, as combining "the spirit of Africa with modern jazz on his impressive debut."[7] Milkowski wrote of the group's second album, Live!, "Percussionist Bujo Kevin Jones underscores this vibrant sextet with an authentic Afro-Cuban pulse".[8]
Who's That Lady?
In 2014, Jones released the album Who's That Lady? through Motéma Music. The band included singers Derrick Dupree and Christelle Durandy, pianist Zen Zadravec, drummer Jerard Snell, guitarist Michael "Moon" Reuben and Bassist Charles Brown.
In a generally positive review, "j.poet" wrote in Drum! Magazine that "Jones has a lifetime of performing a wide range of styles with some of the top names in the field, and brings all those elements together on Who's That Lady".[9]
Discography
As support musician
Free Bop! - Charles McPherson (Xanadu Records, 1978)
Attica Blues Big Band Live at Palais De Glace - Archie Shepp (Blue Marge Records)
