Rodney Jones
b. 30 August 1956, New Haven, Conneticut, USA. Jones was raised in a musical family and plays bass and drums as well as guitar. He studied improvization with John Lewis at the City College of New York and guitar with a variety of teachers. He became a regular studio musician before playing with the Music Complex Orchestra led by pianist Jaki Byard (1975). In the late '70s Jones worked with the groups of Chico Hamilton and Dizzy Gillespie as well as forming his own quartet. He toured the world with the Subtle Sounds jazz group in the early '80s before joining vocalist Lena Horne. He is a meticulous musician whose aim is 'to make each note have a meaning'. He has won a Certificate of Merit from New Orleans (1977) and a recording grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (1983).