John Jones Music

Happy Birthday U.S.A.! The Fourth of July was a blast!

Last year at this time I was in the Hampton’s recovering from a mild concussion, recieved during a tennis lesson on a clay court. I tripped running backwards! Ouch!

This year we were invited to our local and very historic marina to hang with the Sarzo’s on their yacht. Robert plays guitar in Hurricane and in Queensryche!

We went for an inflatable dinghy ride in the main channel of the harbour. I tweeted this photo of me and Robert at sea!

Along with friends “magic bus” Alex, on keys and loops, and fellow sailor Robert, on snare and cymbal, the three of them serenaded the entire marina, throughout one of the biggest fireworks displays on the west coast of the United States, and well on into the night, all performed on the upper deck of the Sarzo yacht.

Band on the helm!

Such a huge influence on me they were; Dee Long of Klaatu, and Dick Wagner, and Bob Ezrin, and Alice Cooper himself!
And both Lisa Dalbello, and Karen Hendricks, sang background vocals. And much more, that I have forgotten, of course!

Here is the iTunes page to preview the songs from Alice Cooper’s Dada album, recorded at ESP Studios in Buttonville in 1982:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dada/id215649497

Classic!

Love is Strange has some history. They say the song is based on a Jody Williams guitar riff from 1956.
Mickey and Sylvia released it first, but Bo Diddley recorded it earlier. See it on Wikipedia!

Paul McCartney and Wings from Wildlife, an album that was recorded in a week in 1971 to catch the magic!

Back in the day, when time moved slowly, Gerald O’Brien was one of my super talented friends in Toronto. And he still is a great keyboard player, and composer, and songwriter, and one who I looked up to in those olden days, and who I learned a lot from!

Gerald joins my blogroll of friends on my p-log.
Here is music, with photos and some video from his fantastic 1970’s band NIGHTWINDS! Produced by Dee Long & Terry Draper!

Terry McDermott, who we have always known, is the VOICE, stopped in our town for a show last Friday, while on tour with the fantastic Miggs!
They played at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, with Terry opening the show with John Luzzi on guitar! Fortunately we had the super talented DZR to keep us on the straight and narrow!

Terry is graciously going to sing a song for the Meninos Do Morumbi project for Music is Hope Foundation!

John Luzzi of Miggs, with Terry McDermott, performing at HOB, West Hollywood

I went to Apogee Digital in Santa Monica last week to hear Bob Clearmountain and Chris Lord-Alge talk about mixing and recording music, in a special event put on by Vintage King.
Behind me is the recording studio’s control room, with it’s lovely NEVE desk, where Bob mixes the live KCRW concerts. The event will be on-line at some point.

John Jones and the Neve, with Bob and Chris on stage in the background

I was dreaming of the past…

The Freddie Mercury Concert For AIDS Awareness

Thanks to humans only having two hands, I was able to help keyboard ace Spike Edney, by climbing through the choir, to get to the Hammond B3, and hold the opening note for Liza Minelli, only letting go at the ultimate moment, her ‘spot’, the one that we rehearsed at Bray Studios in Berkshire, U.K.

I found this link to a Backstage video of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness, that includes the musicians arriving in their cars for rehearsal. Who was that in the blue Aston? Did Elton drive his black Turbo Bentley? It looks live George Michael drove his.

I remember being terrified when I got to rehearsal! I was pretty much the only person that no one knew (although no one knew Nick Faldo either). The band were Roger Taylor, Brian May, John Deacon, and Spike Edney. Queen were playing their songs with the many guest singers, who were coming and going through the day. Queen were going to be everyones back up band! And Freddie was going to be everywhere.

I had my camera with me, but they stopped me after a few pictures. I was taking one of George Michael, who was singing his ass off with the band, when his large assistant grabbed my Minolta 7000i, and pushed it off the shot. No photos!
Later when he saw me playing with Liza, George was nice to me, so I forgave him. It was an amazing scene.

Spike Edney at the keys during rehearsal 1992 – the 1st photo!

Here is a fresh link to a video of Queen and Liza Minelli performing We Are The Champions in the finale of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness at Wembley, on April 20, 1992, with me guesting on organ.

What a treat it was!
We rehearsed for a week in Los Angeles at S.I.R. Studios on Sunset boulevard in Hollywood. And then we rocked it on the stage, and around the world, at Sony Studios New York, on November 17, 1993.

Warren was an unbelievably good music director, and this was a great band!
I’m the guy with all the buttons on the piano!

And what you hear is what we did. No overdubs or fixes. Live. Unplugged. I think that’s what they meant it to be! I had tears in my eyes. Magic!
This video is the entire show, I think…

;

J.T. & Friends provided the music for an evening of dancing at  the PBS Gala in Orange County last weekend.

Peter Asher was the honored guest, and special performer. He brought priceless stories and photographs, and played his hits, some produced by John Burgess, from his days with Peter and Gordon, and from his time at Apple Records.

Peter Asher with J.T. & Friends at the 2014 PBS So Cal Gala

“Putting on the Ritz” raised over one million dollars for public television programming in Southern California.

I was the guest of leader, and drummer, John Tu, who provided his orchestra for the gala, and much much more!

John Tu and Richard Martinez during soundcheck at the 2014 PBS So Cal Gala.

John Jones and John Tu at the PBS So Cal Gala 2014

Final touches to the Tommy Vicari mix of the Meninos & Friends single featuring Julian Lennon at LAFX were handled ably by Spencer Guerra this past weekend.

Spencer Guerra after the session at LAFX for Meninos