DARIUS JONES
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BIO
In October 2024, Jones released Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) on AUM Fidelity. Jones was featured on the cover of The Wire in April 2024 (#482), and Jones' fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred) co-released on Northern Spy and We Jazz Records in 2023, was listed as #3 in The Wire's Releases of the Year 1-50 and The Wire's #1 Jazz & Improv, and was also listed among NPR's top 50 albums of the year. Jones was the 2022 MATA Festival artist in residence and festival curator, where he premiered Colored School No. 3 (Extra Credit). In 2021, Jones released Raw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation) on Northern Spy Records. In 2024, Jones joined the Roulette Intermedium Board of Directors, and became a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble.
Jones has collaborated with Gerald Cleaver, Oliver Lake, William Parker, Andrew Cyrille, Craig Taborn, Wet Ink Ensemble, Jason Moran, Trevor Dunn, Dave Burrell, Eric Revis, Matthew Shipp, Marshall Allen, Nasheet Waits, Branford Marsalis, Travis Laplante, Fay Victor, Cooper-Moore, Matana Roberts, JD Allen, Nicole Mitchell, Georgia Ann Muldrow, International Contemporary Ensemble and many more.
Jones was a JJA Jazz Awards finalist nominee for Alto Saxophonist of the Year in 2022 and 2013, and the 2019 Downbeat Annual Critics Poll winner for Rising Star Alto Saxophone. Jones has been featured in Pitchfork, The Wire, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Downbeat, among others. Critics have called him "robustly creative" (Nate Chinen, NYT) and "one of NYC's most incisive and passionate saxists" (Time Out), and "one of the most impressive and unique voices of our time" (Troy Collins, All About Jazz). Jones has been a contributing writer with featured essays, “Year of Demoon (My Life Inside 2020)” in The Brooklyn Rail (September 2021) and “We Can Change the Country" New Music Box (October 2020).
Jones graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies in 2003, earning a Master of Arts in Jazz Performance/Composition from New York University in 2008, where he also taught New Music Improvisation as an adjunct professor. Jones is an Assistant Professor of Music at Wesleyan University.
Jones’ music is a confrontation against apathy and ego, hoping to inspire authenticity that compels us to be better humans.
Darius Jones has created a recognizable voice as a critically acclaimed saxophonist and composer by embracing individuality and innovation in the tradition of Black music. Jones has been awarded the Van Lier Fellowship, Jerome Foundation Artist-in-Residence and commission, Western Front residency and commission, French-American Jazz Exchange Award, Robert D. Bielecki Foundation Award, and Fromm Music Foundation commission from Harvard University. Jones has received acclaim for not only his studio albums featuring music and images evocative of Black Futurism, but also for his commissioned work as a composer throughout the United States and Canada.
PRESS
"[fLuXkit] is a fearless, even boisterous record... Jones’ writing and playing reach their apex. Surprises abound: springy violin plucks, violent sax stabs, and, most frequently, rhythmic surges that have the force of massive waves. It’s all part of keeping the process right up front." — Mark Masters, Pitchfork
"The avant-gardist Darius Jones has such a distinctive sound on the alto saxophone — widely dilated, yet so rough it could peel paint — he could make a living off his tone alone. But he also has a fiercely innovative streak as a composer. Now he returns with a wide-ranging new album showing off both sides of his talent." — Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times
"fLuXkit Vancouver (I-t-s- suite but sacred) is a riveting work of creative music...a moving celebration of community and friendship." — Stewart Smith, The Wire
“Jones, capable of fleeting articulated flurries as well as even-tempered sequences, confirms he’s one of the most interesting saxophonists of our times.” — Filipe Freitas, Jazz Trail
"4-Stars. Today, he demonstrates that his musical persona will not be easily pigeonholed." – Downbeat
"The sound is breathtaking. The space, color, intensity, and every single note Darius Jones plays is not only a note, but a pure vibration that goes right into our bones and straight to our heart, taking the time and space its needs, so it can be purely felt in its intention, strength, and depth." – Best of Jazz
“A solo album is one of the most personal statements a jazz musician can make. They can be documentations of technical achievement, or a means to get compositions down on tape and hopefully inspire others to record them later; they can be sonic experiments, using the space in which they’re recorded as an instrument; or they can be heartfelt performances of beloved tunes. With nobody else around, they’re more than anything a confrontation between the artist and the audience, or between the artist and themselves. Alto saxophonist Darius Jone’s Raw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation) is all of these things and more.” – Bandcamp Daily
