This week’s edition of Local Spins on WYCE shed light on a New Jersey-bred, Grand Rapids percussionist with a robust career and a diverse selection of music by Michigan artists. (Story, podcast)
An Uplifting Musical Experience: That’s Kevin Jones’ goal at every show.
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Kevin “Bujo” Jones believes every performance can uplift or change someone’s life.
For a percussionist who started playing professionally at age 13 and spent more than a dozen years touring and recording with the Isley Brothers – as well as a four-year stint with Whitney Houston – Jones has had plenty of opportunities to do just that.
On the Air: Kevin Jones during Local Spins on WYCE. (Photo/Local Spins)
“The goal of our music is not necessarily to get out there and play a bunch of stuff and be ‘bad.’ It’s really to uplift the listener and … make people feel something and come away from the concert with an uplifting experience and really feel something inside,” said Jones, who will lead Kevin Jones & Tenth World in a 3:30 p.m. Saturday set during GRandJazzFest 2018 in downtown Grand Rapids.
“That’s sort of the goal. It’s not because I want to be famous. It’s how can I change people’s lives for the better. How can they come away from my concert feeling something profound from that experience?”
Jones, a New Jersey native who moved to Grand Rapids a couple of years ago after falling in love with “a wonderful woman who supports me unconditionally,” formed Tenth World nearly two decades ago with keyboard player and composer Kelvin Sholar, a Detroit native who happened to be living in New Jersey at the time.
The jazz music they unfurled represents a broad mix of styles.
“Since moving here, I wanted to expose our area to a different type of jazz, a different headset for it,” said Jones, who’s collaborated with a host of West Michigan jazz musicians since relocating here.
“A lot of people would say, ‘Oh, it’s Latin jazz. But it’s not Latin jazz. It’s much more than that. It’s jazz and R&B; the harmonic and melodic sensibilities of jazz and R&B fused with rhythms from the Caribbean and Africa and here in the United States – good ol’ funky stuff.”
In short: “It breaks down the barriers of labels definitely. What you can expect is an uplifting musical experience.”
VIDEO: Kevin Jones
Jones shared his experiences and a couple of tracks from Tenth World’s 2006 debut album as part of this week’s edition of Local Spins on WYCE. Listen to the full podcast below and watch a video of Jones performing and talking about his music above.
John Gist
For Saturday’s GRandJazzFest performance, Jones will be joined on stage by a who’s who lineup of Michigan jazz musicians: keyboardist Paul Lesinski, drummer Evan Hyde, bassist Damon Warmack, saxophonist John Gist and trumpeter Max Colley. Gist also will perform separately at 2 p.m. Saturday, just before the Tenth World set.
GRandJazzFest runs 12:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m.- 7 p.m. Sunday at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids. In addition to Tenth World and Gist, Saturday’s lineup features national acts Euge Groove, Lin Rountree and Oli Silk, with Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra featuring Edye Evans Hyde kicking it all off at 12:30 p.m. Sunday’s music starts at 1 p.m. with Kalamazoo’s Lushh, followed by Grupo Aye, Marcus Anderson and finally, Nelson Rangell and Steve Oliver. Get more information online here.
In addition to paying tribute to late Detroit soul legend Aretha Franklin, the Aug. 17 edition of Local Spins on WYCE – which showcases local and regional music at 11 a.m. Fridays on 88.1 FM – also featured the on-air debut of tracks by FINKEL and The Gasoline Gypsies, plus music by the Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra, Lushh, Kathy Lamar (this week’s musician’s pick), Blanca Luz and Billy Strings (who will play a special HopCat presents Local Spins Live at River City Studios session at 7 p.m. Monday that will be streamed live on Local Spins’ Facebook page).
Listen to the Local Spins on WYCE podcast here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (Aug. 17, 2018)
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