Kevin Peter Jones

Kevin Peter Jones - Drummer/Producer/Teacher Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Kevin Peter Jones started playing drums at the young age of ten-years old. Kevin was deeply inspired to pursue music after being mentored by Phil Ballmaier, (a drummer and friend of the family), who taught him the components of feeling and playing jazz from the heart. Peter Edward Jones (Kevin's father), was also a great inspiration to Kevin in the early years, his father's passion for music appreciation in jazz, opera, and classical music introduced Kevin at an early age to the meaning of excellence and many different styles of music. Kevin attended Elk Grove High School and was heavily involved in the music curriculum. He studied with the award winning concert symphony, marching band, and jazz band. At age sixteen, Kevin continued his music studies and met world renowned jazz drummers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. He would never forget those moments of greatness and inspiration. Kevin went on to perform at the nationally recognized Oak Lawn Jazz Festival, where 110 jazz bands competed and the Elk Grove High School Jazz Band went on to win first place honors in Best of Festival and Best of Sight Reading categories. Kevin continued multiple competitive successes during this time and was selected from 110 drummers statewide and was inducted into the Illinois State Jazz Band where he received the prestigious honor of being selected as an Illinois All State Soloist. At the age of sixteen, Kevin was given the opportunity to perform with Chicago's #1 saxophonist, Bunky Green, where he was recognized for his excellent playing. During this time Kevin attended a James Brown concert at the Chicago Playboy Club and heard the most driving and solid drummer. This was the moment where Kevin was introduced to the R&B style of playing which would become one of Kevin's signature styles. After completing high school, Kevin was invited to many Universities across the United States for scholarship opportunities; Miliken University, Northern Illinois University, North Texas State and many other prestigious music schools. Ironically, however, Kevin's passion to fly airplanes and to serve his country drove him to a career in the United Sates Air Force, where after High School Kevin became a well trained Jet Engine Technician, Flight Engineer and continued his education and pilot training and later received his pilot license at the age of 18. After fulfilling his passion to fly planes, Kevin realized his inspirations and his future dreams still led him back to his drums (although Kevin never stopped playing drums during his flying years). At the age of 21, he found himself in Sacramento, California, where he played drums with the number one Jazz Band in Northern California, The John Skinner Jazz Band and Orchestra where he received the rare opportunity to accompany many major union artists that had concerts in Sacramento including Roger Smith, distinguished jazz pianist, with whom he played in several concerts. With over fifteen hundred hours of recording time under his belt, Kevin wrote, arranged, produced and played drums for a series of TV and radio spots and concerts throughout California. During this time, Kevin was mentored by Grammy Award winning drummer, William Kennedy and went on to produce a Yellowjackets concert in Sacramento, California during their world tour at the time. Kevin continued to play in several other jazz festivals where he consistently won first place, including the Berkeley Jazz festival in Berkeley, California where he met world renowned percussionist Alex Acuna, which in turn took his drumming to a higher level. Kevin's drum career continued to rise as he played with such celebrated artists as Bernard Wight, keyboard player out of NY, and also Wayman Tisdale who was an NBA player for the Sacramento Kings and also played the bass. On one special evening, Kevin sat in with one of the jazz clubs in Sacramento where he played a set with Club Nouvou and met Brian Alexander Morgan who went on to produce SWVs album on RCA records. After such motivational experiences as playing and producing with Will Kennedy and meeting Grammy Award winning artists David Weckl, John Patitucci, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip, Sado Watanabe, Chick Correa and Steve Smith (drummer with Journey and Mariah Carey). Kevin packed his things and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he furthered his music career by writing, playing and producing. Currently residing in Washington, D.C., Kevin has played one season with the Georgetown University Concert Orchestra and also played a concert with the award-winning pianist Dave Brubeck at the nationally known Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Kevin is now working on a contemporary jazz CD with numerous Grammy Award winning musicians from Pieces of a Dream, Spyro Gyra, and Yellowjackets to name a few. The CD will include the following musicians: Russell Ferrante, Scott Ambush, Eddie Baccus, Jr., Jimmy Haslip, Eric Marienthal, Nils Jiptner, Mike Miller, Robben Ford, and others. Kevin is also in the process of completing a drum instructional DVD project which will include the following drummers Aaron Spears (Usher), Calep Emphrey (B.B. King), Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett (Madonna, Elton John), and others, with a special guest appearance by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.