Peter Jones
jazz singer, author, composer, journalist
Peter Jones is a well-established jazz writer and musician based in London. He performs regularly at jazz clubs there and throughout the south-east. His albums under his own name and with the band Zoöphyte have received excellent reviews, with tracks from its debut album Signs of Life played on Jazz London Radio, Jazz FM, Worldwide FM, Solar Radio and several other stations in the UK and overseas. Zoöphyte released a new EP Out of the Cave in January 2021.
He has recorded and performed with some of the top names in British jazz, including Roger Beaujolais, Duncan Eagles, Leon Greening, Andy Hamill, Alex Hutton, Anthony Kerr, Mornington Lockett, Henry Lowther, Misha Mullov-Abbado and Nigel Price, and he has performed with both the Remix Jazz Orchestra and the Somethin’ Else Big Band.
This is Bop
This is Bop, Peter’s new biography of the American jazz singer Jon Hendricks was published by Equinox in November 2020, in time for the centenary of Jon’s birth. It has been nominated for the 2021 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. The book is a companion to This is Hip, his acclaimed, award-winning biography of Mark Murphy, which appeared in March 2018 (see reviews).
Reviews of This is Bop
Combining a history of bop singing with a vivid portrayal of the gospel of the griot Saint Jon and a study of language itself, Jones gets to the point and lingers there with love, laughter, and impactful details based on deep research and thoughtful hypothesis. A.D. Amorosi, Jazz Times
This excellent biography. Brian Priestley, Jazzwise
Thoroughly researched on both sides of the Atlantic and featuring interviews with many of Hendrick’s close family and colleagues, This Is Bop is an insightful and entertaining portrait of a flawed though much-loved jazz great. Ian Patterson, All About Jazz
Jones displays skillful, observant musical commentary likely to satisfy sophisticated jazz fans… this book is a must-read. Jeff Kaliss, San Francisco Classical Voice
I can think of few people better qualified than Peter Jones to write this well-researched biography of the legendary Jon Hendricks. The research via magazine articles, interviews with Hendricks’ family, friends and fellow musicians, with sources all indexed, has set a bar so high that it would be nigh impossible for any future biographers to surpass or even to come close. Lance Liddle, Bebop Spoken Here
Admirably clear-sighted… a fascinating survey of a career spanning the golden age of jazz, but also an intriguing study of a complex, many-layered character. Chris Parker, London Jazz News
This is more than an enjoyable book; it is an essential book… What [it] achieves is to bring out all the contradictions and yet convey the humour, joy, the hustling, the vivacity, the hip literacy and the love of family. Jack Kenny, Jazz Views
This evocative work conveys the challenges and successes Hendricks experienced and makes for an affecting, well-rounded portrait of an underappreciated jazz artist who is ripe for rediscovery. Barry Zaslow, Library Journal
This book, like his previous one about Murphy, can be read in one go because Jones is a born storyteller and knows how to describe the decisive moments marvellously. Sjef van Moerdijk, Dr Jazz (Netherlands)
Wow. Not often does a biography leave me so fulfilled and satisfied as the newly-released This is Bop: Jon Hendricks and the Art of Vocal Jazz. Tom Henry, The Blade, Toledo
Peter Jones has done a superb job of relating the life of Hendricks, examining along the way his catalog of talents, personal characteristics and conflicts in an engaging, entertaining and highly readable manner. Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz
Peter Jones … has snatched Hendricks from oblivion… He has created a dense, informative and entertaining portrait… [which] should be compulsory reading for all those concerned with jazz singing. Detlef A. Ott, Just for Swing (Germany)
Not a dry eye when reading this — Jon’s personality truly jumps right out of these pages. And though I was fortunate enough to have known Jon a little bit through my upbringing, this book introduces me to the Jon I hadn’t had the chance to know. I am grateful that he can now be introduced in this way to everyone else who reads this book! Wonderful work. Veronica Swift, jazz singer
The paradox of death-defying difficulty masked as simplicity was the street Jon Hendricks lived on… The story [is] recounted so eloquently by Peter Jones. Kirk Whalum, saxophonist
Order your copy of This is Bop using the promo code EQX for a 25% discount.
Zoöphyte
Zoöphyte showcases Peter’s songwriting in partnership with Trevor Lever. The project combines elements of pop, jazz, rock, soul and psychedelia, and features the cream of UK jazz musicians. Following the critically-acclaimed 2020 album Signs of Life comes a new EP Out of the Cave (2021). Contributors this time include Tom Berge (keyboards), Graeme Flowers (trumpet), Vasilis Xenopoulos, Gunnar Mossblad and Bill Yeomans (tenor saxophone), Mark Aston (tenor and baritone saxophones), Andrew Cleyndert (bass), Sophie Alloway and Mark Whitlam (drums).
What they said about Signs of Life:
“It takes only one listen to Signs of Life… to understand the name of singer Peter Jones’s project, for exotic it undoubtedly is, with roots gloriously entangled in the soils of jazz, pop and psychedelic music… Sophie Alloway’s brushes, and bassist Andrew Cleyndert’s slow groove, instill laid-back swing on “Füsun,” a delightful, blues- tinged number with handsome solos from [Rob] Luft and pianist Ross Stanley. Jones’ delivery on this bitter-sweet tale of love lost, and on the shimmering, Hammond organ-driven swinger “House on the Corner,” position the singer in a lineage somewhere between Frank Sinatra and Kurt Elling.” Ian Patterson, All About Jazz
“What Peter Jones has achieved here is a valid and worthy 21st century British riposte to the greatest American jazz rock outfit of the 20th. He’s also picked up the Steely Dan trick of writing enigmatic, tip-of-the iceberg lyrics instead of, say, rote heart-on-the-sleeve relationship songs. With the result that this album is endlessly listenable, allowing the gorgeous musicianship to grow on listeners — and it deserves many.” Andrew Cartmel, London Jazz News
“Listening to “Signs of Life”, I realised that a way had been found to clothe ambitious music in beautiful and tempting robes – even to the least sensitive eye – and thus satisfy a wide audience: so there is a surface beauty that anyone can appreciate, but there are also deeper waters, and in them, a journey through fairy-tale lands.” Marta Ratajczak, Babskim Uchem (Poland)
“Smoothly trowelled pop-jazz… cosmic grooviness…” Andy Robson, Jazzwise
“This [album] works so beautifully… As a vocalist, Jones brings to mind such greats past and present as Mark Murphy (natch!); Jon Hendricks; Kurt Elling and Gregory Porter. At the risk of facing accusations of being sycophantic, Jones is at a point in his career where he can hold his head up high even in such exalted company.” Lance Liddle, Bebop Spoken Here
‘What a fine singer Peter Jones proved to be, with a first class backing group… Yet another evening of top quality jazz, to be savoured and remembered.’ Chichester Jazz Club (Oct 2019)
