Chicago-bred vocalist Jason Jones is an artist on the rise. He bolsters collaborations with the likes of award-winning gospel artists Donald Lawrence and Fred Hammond.
Trained in classical and jazz but dominating today as a songwriter, composer and vocal consultant, Jones brings a fresh take on musical authenticity. After recent credits scoring plays, he’s setting artistic sights on the world of film. In this interview, we get personal with this multi-faceted musician to learn how he nurtured his own artistic voice.
Interview Highlights
Importance of Mentorship
JJ: I don’t know, man, like I can’t, I can’t really say, you know, like I would not be here if it were not for the musical genius and guidance of Dr. Roosevelt Griffin. And of course, of course, the Dr. Eanes Like there’s, there’s no way, there’s no way I would be anywhere. I would like to listen to music the same way and interpret it the same way.
So like under their guidance, under their leadership I’ll say, even years after years after high school into college, like that was my job, right? Like I would come home and like, Hey, Dr. G, Dr Eanes, what y’all got for me? Like, what are we gonna do? Like, you know, and it was, it was just always this thing where I built less of, I’ll say a mentor and mentee kind of relationship and much more of things that were almost familial.
And I appreciated that so greatly because just in music alone, they poured their wealth, right? And of course, Of course, obviously in life too. I mean, like, man, Mr. Eanes definitely hit me in my chest at least once. So, you know, I’m just saying, just saying.
CJ: He was intense.
JJ: But I needed that. I needed that. I didn’t even know I needed it. And then it came and I was like, oh shoot, I needed that. And now my life is on, is on the right track. So, yeah, man, like I don’t know. Ever since then, no, I’ll take it back before.
I had always known that I’d listen to music differently, and I didn’t really know how to express that or even how to be comfortable with that within my own self.
And so they kind of helped me navigate like, well, this is, this is how music goes. And so all that was left was just reconciling how music is. My feelings. Right. So, you know, that’s, that’s kind of all I really try to do nowadays. And so I really find joy in making music as though it’s a conversation and to just have it as though it is just someone who’s in front of you just simply saying, “Hey, here’s my day, right”?
Musical Aspirations and Philosophy
JJ: Disney music. I love Disney music because it’s like, dude, it’s, it’s, it’s the perfect meld of, you know, honest, sincere, and concise thought while still putting clever rhetorical strategies all intertwined into a melody that we all love. So, yeah, that’s that. That’s what I aim for my music to be like, right? It’s a thing that’s not just her, but it’s it’s, it’s music. Well, I should say it’s language to communicate between souls.
CJ: Oh, yeah. So, well, you figured it out a lot earlier than a lot of people do.
JJ: I mean, shoot. I don’t know, man. I’m looking at my age and I’m like, oh, I figured it out pretty late. You know, the way I see it is like, As long as you have something to offer another soul, then it’s never too late, you know, and like, I feel like so much of the world has just kind of put this clock on us, but, you know, as long as there’s a lesson to be learned, you know, it’s just everybody, it’s just the internet being the internet, you know but yeah, man, like, that’s great. Soul to soul. That’s all.
CJ: So from when you started writing, Hmm. Well, what was that journey like to get to this point where you’re at now then?
JJ: Shoot man, it was rough. That’s what it had to be. Yeah, I mean I don’t know. When I first started writing music, it was always defined in this little box because that’s what I had learned, right?
Jazz music, gospel music, pop music, you know, you can pick a show tune genre, right? Like any genre period, I was full of all of these things, but they all felt like they were a restrictive box for me. And I was like, I don’t, I don’t want to be in a box. Right. And so I guess when I was first learning to write, I was.
Really just kind of breaking myself out of that box, right? I had a lot of feelings and a lot of things that I wanted to say and I wasn’t really good at putting those actually into words And so, you know, I just I stopped honestly, I stopped Just kind of writing, right? And I just started talking whatever I felt I was like, oh, well, I speak in fortune cookies, so I might as well, I might as well, you know, keep talking and just like, like record it or something and then come back over and put a melody to it and. It just felt much more authentic that way to me. But it took me a long time to figure that out.
CJ: So, yeah. It’s a process of self-discovery. You literally had a process of self-discovery.
JJ: It really is. It’s been an amazing journey, I will say. And the more that I dive into it, the more I feel. Not just healing, but myself becoming more aware of myself, being more content myself, and discovering things that I didn’t really know.
Balancing Technical Skills and Emotions
CJ: How did you work on translating your tools into… okay, this gets this feeling from me. And if I feel this, maybe somebody else feels like this when they hear this thing. And you know, like making those connections.
JJ: Yeah. So at least for, me the first thing I had to do is throw, throw the tools away. Theory does not make the music. Music is literally just defined by the theory, right? Like, and I feel like for me, and I’m sure many other aspiring musicians and artists, they feel the same way is I’m so full of theory, right? It’s very hard for me to make music. So the very first thing I did was throw all that away, right?
Like, and really listened into things that. People were doing, like I said, I’m really huge and onto Disney music, but not just not even just their lyrical music, but the way that they score and things like that one of my favorite compositions is Romantic Flight from How to Train Your Dragon. Right, but like, it’s, it’s something away, it’s something about how they use strings to paint clouds and they make you feel like you’re soaring.
So instead of using somebody else’s theory and somebody else’s terms, I listen to these things for myself and I define for myself, like, what does this feel like? I’ll take a random song and say, you know, what, what do I see? You know, like listen to it, don’t use any other context. What do you see and how did they paint this picture with sound? And so I inevitably just try to do just that, right? I don’t, I don’t know the tool that I’m going to use until I’ve mastered the.
Feeling right. And once I’ve mastered that feeling and I know like, well, I want it to feel sad or I want it to feel uppity or I want it to feel like I’m sitting on a lake where there’s moving water, then the tools come into mind because, you know, again, oh, the best way that I can describe it is you know, you’re just painting, you’re just painting a picture with the sounds, right?
And if you are able to achieve that, you know, then, you know, you, you’ll, you’ll feel for the tool, right? You’ll see that a screwdriver probably isn’t the best for hammering nails. Right? So you feel me? Yeah. So at the end of the day, it’s all subjective anyway. So you might as well be an artist.
CJ: Oh, yeah. So, well, you figured it out a lot earlier than a lot of people do.
JJ: I mean, shoot. I don’t know, man. I’m looking at my age and I’m like, oh, I figured it out pretty late. You know, the way I see it is like, As long as you have something to offer another soul, then it’s never too late, you know, and like, I feel like so much of the world has just kind of put this clock on us, but, you know, as long as there’s a lesson to be learned, you know, it’s just everybody, it’s just the internet being the internet, you know but yeah, man, like, that’s great. Soul to soul. That’s all.
CJ: So from when you started writing, Hmm. Well, what was that journey like to get to this point where you’re at now then?
JJ: Shoot man, it was rough. That’s what it had to be. Yeah, I mean I don’t know. When I first started writing music, it was always defined in this little box because that’s what I had learned, right?
Jazz music, gospel music, pop music, you know, you can pick a show tune genre, right? Like any genre period, I was full of all of these things, but they all felt like they were a restrictive box for me. And I was like, I don’t, I don’t want to be in a box. Right. And so I guess when I was first learning to write, I was.
Really just kind of breaking myself out of that box, right? I had a lot of feelings and a lot of things that I wanted to say and I wasn’t really good at putting those actually into words And so, you know, I just I stopped honestly, I stopped Just kind of writing, right? And I just started talking whatever I felt I was like, oh, well, I speak in fortune cookies, so I might as well, I might as well, you know, keep talking and just like, like record it or something and then come back over and put a melody to it and. It just felt much more authentic that way to me. But it took me a long time to figure that out.
CJ: So, yeah. It’s a process of self-discovery. You literally had a process of self-discovery.
JJ: It really is. It’s been an amazing journey, I will say. And the more that I dive into it, the more I feel. Not just healing, but myself becoming more aware of myself, being more content myself, and discovering things that I didn’t really know.
The Challenge of Confidence in Artistry
JJ: Anyway I think, I think Once you’ve unlocked authenticity Chase after What feels I should say what locks into the groove, right? Like I feel like so many people you know, they, they just kind of like put together a track or they, I don’t know, steal somebody else’s like pre-made tracks and that’s like, eh, eh, but an experiment, you know, like do something that is weird to you, right?
Like chase after. In every sense, expansion of oneself, expansion of one’s mind, expansion of one’s sound. Cause you know, like, especially as, especially as artists, we get very proud of the thing that we make. And we hang on to that, but you know, as. Just like any other thing, we should be growing in this, right?
Like, the best thing that I could say is like, if it’s your best work, make it not your best work. Yeah. You know, like, and that does not come by trying to emulate your best work, or trying to redo that thing.
Trying to recreate the magic. You are the magic, right? Like, so go out there and Houdini again. Right? Like and believe in yourself enough that you can do it again and that you will do it again and just try.
CJ: You have the audacity. Every day, every day to come up, show up,
JJ: Man and that’s a hard lesson all by itself, right? Like, being confident in yourself is a completely separate beast from being confident in your artistry, right?
Because, People can tell you, no, I don’t like that, right? Like, and you know, I dunno, I feel like once you’ve mastered it within yourself, like, I feel like a lot of people just kind of like brush it off. Okay. Well, yeah, this is me. I’m not changing, but we don’t apply that same thing to our art. Right. And because it’s the most sincere form of our expression, right?
Like just me being out here. Okay. Well, I flexed a little bit. I did some pushups before I went out, and put on some glasses. All right, cool. You don’t like me? I’m not worried, right? Somebody will.
But art is the most sincere thing that we’ve got, right? Like, it’s the most sensitive thing that we can possibly put forth. So, you know, when somebody says, I don’t like your artistry, you’re saying you don’t like me as an entirety, right? Like…
CJ: It’s personal.
JJ: It really is, right? So, I would say not just even having the audacity, but love your art enough to where if no one else loves it, then you are still pursuing it. You are still doing it, right? Because it really doesn’t matter. It’s not a popularity contest.
You know, it all kind of goes back to the same thing. You’re not comparing yourself. And that’s a hard lesson all by itself, whether music or otherwise, right? You’re not comparing yourself. You’re trying to connect. And as long as you stay authentic to that and You break out of your box, right? Like, and you’re constantly trying to improve. You know, those, those two things, they, they go hand in hand. Those are the building blocks of artistry. So, yeah.
Good Co-writing and Cohesion
CJ: Alright, how, how do you approach being a good co-write… Because some people get in the co-writing are like, “it’s me, myself, and I”…
JJ: Yeah, I get that. I get that. So I will say there has to be a there has to be a certain level of dog in you. There’s got to be an animal in you right? Like because there’s it doesn’t matter where you put me what you put me on I don’t care whose first verse was as fire as it came, I came to chop some heads.
So, like, that’s just how that’s just how it goes, but that is, that’s a learned confidence, right? That’s a home thing. So when I’m, when I’m approaching co-write I approach it the exact same kind of way. Okay, what kind of feeling are we attempting to go for? And what kind of perspective are we looking for this to be from?
As far as. lyricists go, what I try to listen for is I guess, temperature. I try to listen for perspective and I try to listen for atmosphere. And what I mean by temperature is, yeah, what I, what I mean by temperature is like, how intense are we going with this? Right? Like if, if we’re just kind of real laxed and like lofi writing, okay.
All right. Well then say something that is gritty that makes people think, right. But not something that is so. Cryptic that it’s like, it just goes right over their heads. Right. Or if we’re doing something that’s much more technical than like unleash the hounds of war, right. You know and so, you know, obviously perspective speaks for itself.
Like, am I trying to address somebody directly? Is it something that’s much from a, much more from a third person? You know, just usual like rhetorical strategies and I would really encourage people to like look at poetry — look at any piece of literature that has really good rhetorical strategies in its plays.
And you know, this is where I absolutely harp on Broadway musicals and whatnot for being genius at because the rhetorical strategies within that and the perspectives that they write from, they’re absolutely genius. So. Study your perspectives. And then Oh, shoot. I forgot my third one. I forgot. Oh, I don’t remember.
CJ: Temperature.
JJ: It was temperature perspective. And then, oh, shoot. I don’t even remember. I don’t even remember. But yeah, it doesn’t matter. Look for that third one. Yeah. Maybe I’ll remember it at some point. Okay. Yeah, like it’s really just kind of, oh, atmosphere. Right, right, right. So it kind of comes back down to what kind of mode am I trying to set?
What, what am I going to… Add to this song that better communicates the entirety of the message. Right. Because you know, if I come in like, I don’t know, talking about dice pineapples in the middle of a song, that’s like a nursery rhyme. It could fit, but it probably won’t. Right. Because I mean, you know, it’s all, it’s all about, you know, how cohesive the end objective really ends up being.
So, with those three perspectives in mind, I walk in, get my coffee, my best pen, and be ready for fortune cookies. You speak in fortune cookies. I mean, I’ve been told that my entire life. So, you know.
It’s okay. I’ve made it a part of my identity. And honestly, it’s really, it’s really kind of made me a better writer for it. Because it’s like, you know, imagery and perspective. Like, I love that stuff. I eat it up. Lil Wayne is like. He’s the most genius writer I’ve ever listened to in my life. So, like, if I’m aspiring to anything, it’s probably Wayne’s flow with the, with the musical genius of Stephen Sondheim. He’s really big in the musical theater.
Jason Jones' Bio
Importance of Mentorship
Jason Jones is an uprising, Chicago-native vocalist and composer. His work includes compositions for the family comedy, “My Cousin Sen’Derella, and the historical play, “1619: A Journey of a People”. Not a stranger to the spotlight, Jason has performed with acts such as:
- Sir the Baptist (Grammy winner)
- El DeBarge (Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter)
- Donald Lawrence (multi-Stellar Award Winner)
- Fred Hammond (multi-Stellar Award Winner)
He studied classical piano and voice at the Merit School of Music for several years before coming under the tutelage of Orbert Davis, jazz master and Director of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra.
Through his classical and jazz training, Jason has become an accomplished creative and worked with artists nationwide. He dominates his craft across many domains: composer, singer, songwriter, and vocal consultant. Now, as a theater composer, songwriting consultant, and decorated vocalist, he turns his eyes to music for film.
Jason's Music & Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theejasonjones/
