Vol. 2, No. 38, Friday, August 10, 2001

NOTES
Sean Peterson
8/10/01

Jones and Company carries mix of talents to The Dock

Jazz, blues funk, R&B, soul, reggae, Latin and rock ’n’ roll.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a person with equal love for all these musical genres, let alone a musician talented enough to play them all with heart and conviction.

But listen to the eclectic collective known simply as Jones and Company just once and the wall built by genre snobs crumbles. The Destin-based band is a perennial favorite at Pensacola music events such as Evenings in Olde Seville Square and the Pensacola Jazz Festival. In mid and late August, the group will make two Thursday night appearances at The Dock on Pensacola Beach.

Musical marriage
Jones and Company got its start when husband-and-wife team Cheryl and Denny Jones — keyboardist and vocalist, bassist and vocalist respectively — hooked up with Cuban-born saxophonist Al Alvarado in Destin 12 years ago. At the time, all three were new additions to the Emerald Coast music scene. The Joneses, both 41, moved to the area in 1988. Having passed through the area years earlier while playing in a traveling band, both dreamed of relocating from their native Detroit where they studied jazz at Wayne State University.

Alvarado, 42, was an Air Force jet engine mechanic stationed at Eglin Air Force Base who combed local bars and clubs at night, taking any opportunity to sit in with other musicians. The open-mindedness of each to all things musical drew the trio together. About a year and a half later, they added the percussion skills of Brent Purcell to the band. Purcell, 36, hails from Larne, County Antrim, Ireland, throwing yet one more international spice into the band’s unconventional pot of influence.

In a dozen years, the band has evolved from relative obscurity to one of the Gulf Coast’s most popular acts, and they’ve done it the old-fashioned way — incessant gigging.

Exploring music and regions
Besides an ongoing Sunday stint at AJ’s in Destin, Jones and Company travel as far west as New Orleans, making frequent stops at the Copa Casino in Biloxi along the way. They started their own record company, Circle Dance Records, for which they’ve recorded two CDs — their debut “Artistic License” and a collection of Christmas favorites entitled “In the Spirit of the Season.” Alvarado says the band is working on a third disc, “Us to You,” slated for completion this fall. As with their previous releases, “Us to You” will feature a mix of tunes that Alvarado calls “pretty eclectic.”

“It’s going to be a little more accessible in some respects, but like always we try some new things as well,” says Alvarado, taking a break during a recent show at The Dock. “Although jazz, R&B and funk are really what we’re all about, we don’t turn our noses up at any style. Music is a way to express whatever mood your in, and for us exploring different styles is what works to convey the moods we’re in.”

All four members are committed to helping upstart musicians learn more about their craft. Cheryl Jones conducts the Okaloosa-Walton Community College Jazz Band, affectionately dubbed “Raiders of the Lost Art,” a position she has held for five years. In her work at the college, Jones says she helps students tap into their own creativity. Alvarado has the same goal in the workshops he leads for middle school, high school and college student musicians, an act he finds extremely rewarding.

“I try to teach them expressiveness and individuality,” he says. “Hopefully, I’m helping them find their own voice on their instruments.”

Feel-good music
During its Aug. 2 gig at The Dock, Jones and Company displayed individual and collective voices. Playing selections from the upcoming CD, interspersed with Bob Marley, Santana and a medley of dance tunes, the group pushed everybody from gray haired yuppies to barefoot beach bums to the dance floor. The crowd and the band continuously fed off each other’s energy, escalating at points to a full-on party.

“We heard them at Seville (Quarter) awhile back, and we couldn’t wait to see them again,” says Marsha McKinley of Pensacola. McKinley was at The Dock with friend Mary Beth Ramos, who says she enjoys the band because it doesn’t cater to a particularly young or old audience, it just plays music that feels good

At one point, the ladies halted the interview because they didn’t want to miss a note of an Alvarado feature number, especially when the saxophonist left the stage and performed the song right in front of their table.

Jones and Company members do their thing with youthful bravado. Cheryl Jones says she’s proud of her age, coining the 40s as the 20s of middle age. If she’s right about good music keeping her young, she’ll have the attitude of a 20-year-old for quite some time.