Peter Jones – Jazz Singer
Vocal shenanigans in the jazz idiom
Peter Jones is a well-established jazz singer based in London. He gigs regularly at jazz clubs there and throughout the south-east. His three albums to date have received excellent reviews, with tracks played on Jazz London Radio, Jazz FM, Worldwide FM and several other stations in the UK and overseas.
The album Signs of Life from Zoöphyte, released in May 2020, showcases his songwriting in partnership with Trevor Lever. It combines elements of jazz, rock, soul and psychedelia, and features the cream of younger UK jazz musicians: Rob Luft (guitar), Ross Stanley (keyboards), Graeme Flowers (trumpet), Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor saxophone), Nick Mills (trombone), Andrew Cleyndert (bass), Sophie Alloway (drums) and Will Fry (percussion), with Peter Jones (vocals) and Kitty Whitelaw (backing vocals). The new album was recorded in October 2019, and was due to be launched on 9th May 2020 at Jazz Cafe Posk before lockdown.
What they say 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)
Peter 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 Hip, Peter’s acclaimed, award-winning biography of the American jazz singer Mark Murphy, was published by Equinox in March 2018 (see reviews). It won a prize in the 2019 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research, and was also nominated for the Woody Guthrie Award. His new biography of the singer Jon Hendricks is due for publication in November 2020, in time for the centenary of Jon’s birth.
Order your copy of This is Hip using the promo code HIP for a 25% discount.
L I V E
2019
Wednesday 9 January – The Barley Mow, Shepperton
Tuesday 15 January – Twickenham Jazz Club
Friday 15 February – Toulouse Lautrec, London SE11
Thursday 28 February – Arundel Jazz Club
Thursday 7 March – Googlies, Enfield
Wednesday 27 March – St Martin in the Fields, London WC2
Sunday 28 April – The Beech House, Hampton Hill
Sunday 19 May (2pm) – private party
Sunday 9 June (2pm) – Three Guineas, Reading
Tuesday 18 June – East Grinstead Jazz Club
Thursday 4 July – Magpie & Parrot, Shinfield
Wednesday 24 July – The Barley Mow, Shepperton
Wednesday 7 August – Strawberry Hill Golf Club
Sunday 8 September – The Boaters, Kingston
Friday 18 October – Chichester Jazz Club
Thursday 21 November – Future Inn, Bristol
Saturday 30 November – The Angel, Woolhampton
2020
Tuesday 14 January – Twickenham Jazz Club