David Lee Jones hails from the city of Houston, Tx. He grew up in a musical culture that was rich in blues and R& b. At the age of 8 he began to study the violin and piano until he reached age 10 where he decided that the saxophone was to be the instrument for him. During his High School years he won numerous awards for best soloist and held the lead alto saxophone chair in the school’s Jazz Band and orchestra that won first place awards in virtually every competition that they entered the four years that he attended. From 1976 to 1978 David attended Texas Southern University in Houston where he studied Music Education with a minor in Jazz Studies. It was at that point that he became interested in the Flute and soprano saxophone. It was also at TSU where he made aquaintance with saxophonist Kirk Whalum and began to study together and exchange musical knowledge while performing in the marching band and jazz band.At Texas Southern David studied composition with Professor Lanny Stelle and Professor Howard Harris, persuing the footsteps of past alumni such as Hubert and Ronnie Laws, Joe Sample, Wilton Felder and Wayne Henderson of the Jazz Crusaders.After a two year break from college, January of 1980 he decided to move to Boston, MA to study at Berklee College of Music. There he sharpened his skills as a woodwindist studying the saxophone, flute, clarinet and composition obtaining a B. A. in Jazz Composition and Arranging. Some his classmates at Berklee would include: Branford Marsalis, Rachelle Farrell, Jeff “Tain†Watts, Marvin “Smitty†Smith, Greg Osby, Wallace Roney, Najee, Donald Harrison, Kevin Eubanks, Warren Hill and Alex Bugnon just to name a few. At Berklee David recieved many awards and honors including The "Quincy Jones Award for Outstanding Composition".In January of 1990 David moved to New York City to further persue his career as a professional musician. Subsquentley he landed his first gig with organist Jack McDuff. After a short tenure with McDuff David went on to work as a sub for saxophonist / flautist Jerome Richardson on the Broadway musical “Black and Blueâ€. In 1992 David began working with The Mingus Big Band and the late Phyllis Hyman in which he played auxillary keyboards as well as saxophones in her band for a subsequent three years. In between his tenure with Phyllis he left her band for one and a half years to work with the grammy award winning jazz / rap group “Digable Planetsâ€. Subsquently he toured with them and appeared on numerous television shows such as MTV, Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno and David Letterman and the 1994 Grammys. That year the group won a grammy for “Best Rap Group or Duoâ€. On the second CD release of Digable Planets entitled “Blow Out Combâ€, David played as well as wrote all of the featured interludes for that particular project.When Digable Planets became defunkt, David returned to Phyllis Hyman’s band and remained with her until her death in June of 1995. Since his residence in New York, David has worked and recorded with many artist including Sade (toured as opening act), Digable Planets, Phyllis Hyman, Jennifer Holliday, Anita Baker, Melba Moore, Jordin Sparks, Johnny “Clydeâ€Copeland, Lennie White, Regina Carter, The Mingus Big Band, George Benson, Clark Terry, Jimmy McGriff, The Dells, The Chi-Lites, Lonnie Plaxico, Stanley Turrentine, Shirley Scott, Jean Carne, “Brother†Jack McDuff, Roy Ayers, Russel Malone, Onaje Allan Gumbs and Jon Hendricks. David has toured and played some the major festivals around the world including: The Montreaux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / Roskilde Festival, Denmark / Glastonbury Festival England / Pori Jazz Festival, Helsinki, Finland / Escape Theatre, Amsterdam / North Sea Jazz Festival, Den Haag, The Netherlands / Palais Du Sport, Paris, France / Nice Jazz Festival, Nice, France / Vienna Jazz Festival, Vienna Austria and the Pescara Jazz Festival, Pescara, Italy to name a few.
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***************For more info on David Lee Jones's Discography visit:
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