BuzzJonesBio

John William “Buzz” Jones is Professor of Music at Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory of Music in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Buzz teaches theory, jazz history, orchestration, 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 21 years and led the group on four summer tours of Europe with appearances at the Montreux, North Sea, and Vienne Jazz Festivals and concerts in Athens, Venice, and Paris.

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 celebrated 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 a 14-time ASCAP Standard Award winner in composition. His commissioned works for concert band, jazz ensemble, orchestra, and choir have been performed widely and received enthusiastically by audiences of all ages. He has been awarded grants from the Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Adams County Arts Council, National Welsh-American Foundation, and Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts. Jones received the Creative Arts Achievement Award from Lebanon Valley College in 2002. His compositions have been performed by the Reston and Gettysburg Chamber Orchestras, The Spires Brass Band, Aureole Trio, Essence of Joy, the United States Army Brass Band (Pershing’s Own), Bel Voce, and the Gettysburg College Choir among others. He also conducted the Cymru Chamber Orchestra of Pennsylvania on a tour of Wales and England performing his Wales: Land of My Fathers (1997) using medieval Welsh poetry, folk songs, and hymn tunes as texts. A DVD and score of his oratorio For The People (2009) will be archived at Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.

He 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 Gettysburg Festival (link). He resides in Gettysburg with his wife Gail, an elementary school music teacher.