When he was 16, Sean Jones wrote a letter to his mother for a class assignment.
He told her where he hoped to be in 10 years: He wanted to be a jazz performer who made his living from
music, and he wanted to be his idol Wynton Marsalis’ friend.
"Putting that down on paper, I pretty much sealed my fate," he said in a recent telephone
interview.
Now 34, Jones is a professional musician based in New York, and he plays lead trumpet in the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Orchestra ;led by Marsalis. He called the Sentinel from the road in Minnesota where he
was touring with Marsalis’ trombone-playing brother Delfeayo Marsalis. In the past decade the globe
trotting trumpeter has recorded five CDs of his own and appeared on dozens more.
Jones will visit Bowling Green State University next week. He’ll sit in at the jazz faculty’s weekly jam
session Wednesday starting at 8:30 p.m. at One 49 North on North Main Street in downtown Bowling Green,
and perform with the Jazz Lab Band I directed by David Bixler Thursday at 8 p.m. in Kobacker Hall in the
Moore Musical Arts Center on campus.
His visit was arranged by Bixler with whom he works in Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.
Making a career in music, especially as a jazz musician is tough these days. "You really have to be
at the top of your game," Jones said. "You have to have credibility with your peers."
Certainly Jones has attained that.
He remains positive about the playing opportunities for musicians. While there’s an "ebb and
flow" on the night club scene, non-profit foundations are providing more non-traditional outlets
for the music. And Jones sees smaller jazz festivals popping up all over. "It’s just change,"
he said. "It doesn’t necessarily mean anything is dying, it’s just shifting."
Being flexible is important. That’s not been a problem for Jones.
When he went to first Ohio State and then on to graduate studies at Rutgers University, he said, "I
just wanted to play great music whatever that music was. … I hear a lot of different types of
music."
Growing up in Warren, Ohio, Jones started playing trumpet at 10. "I’ve enjoyed it ever since."
He said he was fortunate to have music teachers who picked up on his enthusiasm. "I would practice
more than the others."
They nurtured him. That’s what teachers do find those gifted students who want to work and do what they
can do to bring them along.
Now a teacher himself, that’s the approach Jones takes.
Encouraging all students, no matter their gift. Pushing them to work as hard as they can, he said.
"This is not something you take lightly."
