About Me
My name is Bruce Jones, and I am the son of Thad Jones. My dad along with his brothers, Elvin Jones and Hank Jone comprised one of the most important and significant families in Jazz.I got into the music business as a direct result of my father's dissatisfaction and numerous complaints about the horrific business practices, in this industry, during the 60's and 70's(which is well documented). My perception at time was that the business of music "The Machine" and the creators of music "The Artist" were on opposite sides of the spectrum and totally at odds with each other. So my goal became to bridge the gap, to improve the synergy between the two, and implement my mission statement which was to be "extremely sensitive to the artist's perspective.I started out working at Capitol Records in the early eighties as a Customer Service Rep. In this position I gained direct access and hands-on experience in the sales, marketing, promotions and merchandising of all genres of music (unlike today's marketplace). From there I went to work for Valley Vue Records under the direction of Hillery Johnson as the National Promotion Director. This is where I got my chance to work directly with artist like 101 North (George Duke's project), Gary Taylor, Craig T. Cooper etc.. At that time, Hillery also became one of the top Indies in the business. And we joined forces and began working projects with many record labels and music executives from Virgin Records/Sharon Heyward, to Island Records/Greg Peck to Columbia Records/Eddie Pugh, to name a few.My vision was becoming a reality with the success we garnered from Paula Abdul, After 7, Soul II Soul's #1 hit Back to Life, and M/A/R/R/S' going gold with Pump up the Jam. Next I accepted the National Promotion Director post at Henry Marx's Sin-Drome Records. This position allowed me to work directly with the legendary Bobby Caldwell, Peter White, and the Jazz Crusaders. This was the early days of crossing over contemporary jazz artists to urban radio/audiences and the launching board to me finding my niche and starting my own business in the music industry.I then founded Thun Productions (in honor of my dad) and later my current company On Point Entertainment and combined my original mission, my new specialty Urban AC and created a reputation for breaking unusual artist/songs at Urban AC, i.e... Les Nubians (2 African sister from France who sang in both French & English) project on Higher Octave/Virgin. Virgin/France had the record first and didn't know what to do with it. Higher Octave then brought me in as the consultant and I decided to take the song in French (not English) to Urban AC radio in the U.S. and the rest is history.... Grammy nominations, Soul Train Music Awards etc. In addition I have had commercial success with Ronnie Jordan (Blue Note Records), Hil St. Soul (Dome Records), Donnie (Giant Step/Motown), Victor Fields (Regina Records) and many more
