Sunderman Conservatory of Music
John William “Buzz” Jones is Professor of Music at Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory of Music in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Buzz coordinates the theory program and teaches jazz history, counterpoint, and composition. During his tenure as Director of Bands (1989-2002), the program grew in size from thirty-five to ninety musicians performing over twenty concerts annually. Moreover, the number of music majors and minors more than doubled while he served as department chair and conservatory director from 1999-2008. He has directed the college jazz ensemble for nineteen years and led the group on four summer tours of Europe with appearances at the Montreux, North Sea, and Vienne Jazz Festivals.
Born in Bryn Mawr (Welsh for “high hill”) on the outskirts of Philadelphia, he earned degrees in music education from Lebanon Valley College and Towson University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University. He was a public school music teacher for seven years in Howard County, Maryland before returning to Pennsylvania in the 1980s to direct the band program at Dickinson College and work in the retail music industry.
The Buzz Jones Big Band will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2009. This sixteen member ensemble is recognized as the very best of its genre in the Mid-Atlantic States. The BJBB has traveled to Germany, France, and The Netherlands with appearances at the North Sea and Montreux Jazz Festivals and released four compact discs- Live! At The Montreux Jazz Festival, Big Band Euro Tour, Millennium Swing, and What's Up In The Attic? The Majestic Jazz Orchestra (Majestic Theater) was created in 2003 for the express purpose of performing and recording Axiom Asunder, (review) (PowerPoint) a four episode suite tracing the history of jazz and linked by the poetry of Langston Hughes. Buzz also conducted the Cymru Chamber Orchestra at the Welsh International Gymanfa Ganu in Columbus, Ohio, traveled to Wales and England on a six concert tour in 1999, and performed at the North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture at Bryn Mawr College.
Buzz is an twelve-time ASCAPLUS Standard Award winner in composition. His commissioned works for concert band, jazz ensemble, chamber groups, orchestra and choir have been performed widely and received enthusiastically by audiences of all ages. He has been awarded grants from the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, the Adams County Arts Council, and the National Welsh-American Foundation and received the Creative Arts Achievement Award from his alma mater, Lebanon Valley College. His articles have appeared in the Jazz Educators Journal, The Instrumentalist, and The PMEA Bulletin for Research in Music Education.
Buzz is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, Phi Beta Mu (International Bandmasters Fraternity), Music Educators National Conference, the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, and served two terms as president of the International Association for Jazz Education-Pennsylvania Unit. He is currently Artistic Director for Jazz of the new Gettysburg Festival (link). He resides in Gettysburg with his wife Gail, an elementary school music teacher.