Rowland Jones ha preso la chitarra in mano per la prima volta più di 40 anni fa. Nato in Galles, il suo primo incontro con la musica avvenne attraverso il coro della chiesa, ma fu la chitarra la vera rivelazione. La seconda rivelazione fu il “Bluesâ€, dopo aver sentito il disco leggendario di “John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Claptonâ€. Ha sperimentato molti generi musicali, tra cui il Blues, elettrico e acustico, e il Jazz. Ha suonato in locali noti, come The Marquee†e “The Speakeasyâ€. Nel 1999 ha conosciuto il batterista Tony Mann (“sideman†di Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow, Chet Baker), ed insieme hanno fondato il Tony Mann Quartet con Cristiano Arcelli (sassofono) e Daniele Mencarelli (contrabbasso). Nel marzo del 2007 Rowland è tornato in Italia riscoprendo e le sue vere radici: il Blues.
I started playing over forty years ago, and was soon gigging with a blues band supporting local heroes Liquid Umbrella (well, it was the 1960’s…) and playing at the Redcliffe, long time residency for Dave Edmund’s seminal band Love Sculpture. Moving to Hertfordshire I carried on playing acoustic blues on the folk circuit, whilst spending a lot of time in London enjoying live gigs at The Lyceum and Eel Pie Island, listening to legendary acts such as Taste, Clapton, and Free. After finishing a degree at Manchester, I formed Harpoon with university friend Jon Ash. The band worked regularly for around five years, clocking up 150 gigs in one ten month period, having, at one point, played five separate gigs in 29 hours! We supported fellow Didsbury musicians Sad Café on their UK gigs, and backed American acts such as Limmie and the Family Cookin', and The Exciters (‘Doo wah diddy diddy’) We were a hard working band, playing gigs across the UK, including prestigious venues such The Marquee, The Red Cow, and The Speakeasy where we were appreciated by people as diverse as John Peel, and Captain Beefheart! Peel visited our ‘dressing room’ at the Marquee, introduced himself, (as if it was needed!) and reported us in Sounds as ‘a nice young band’. The Captain saw us play at The Speakeasy and growled ‘nice band’ to me as he left! I left the band in 1979, as he could foresee personal problems, which promptly occurred just after I’d left when they signed to PolyGram, at which point the band split for good. For the next few years, I worked in video production whilst still involved in musical projects as varied as ‘Sausages’ the 'talking dog' single, producing a top 50 (alternative charts) single ‘Edward Fox’ for Manchester Punk band Smack, and performing with folk/fusion band Hunters Moon which came second in Edinburgh International Folk Festival. I also wrote technical reviews for Sound on Sound Magazine and did some programming work for Yamaha synthesizers, as well writing incidental music and jingles for video projects.In the early nineties I began to study jazz with the likes of Trefor Owen, Adrian Ingram and Chris Walker, and played with Randy Johnston and Jim Hall at Master classes. I played a weekly gig with the Double B Jazz Orchestra in Stockport from 1992 until 1998, when I moved to Italy. In Italy, I met Tony (Mann), a well-established and respected jazz drummer, and sideman to Chet Baker, Tal Farlow, and Barney Kessel. I introduced Tony to Danielle Mencarelli who I'd met at Contrapunto, a club in Perugia and we founded The Tony Mann Quartet with Cristiano Arcelli. Our 2000 album 'Night and Day' received air play from Humphrey Lyttleton, on BBC radio and was described in Jazz Review as “rewarding and attractive†Last year Jon Ash and met up in Denmark and began work on an album project. I returned to live in Italy with my wife, Lesley, in March 2007.
