Gerald Jones got into music after hearing the D.C. Youth Orchestra Program’s performance of William Tell Overture in his mother’s elementary school.
By age 16, he traveled to Canada to play at a music festival as well as Greece and Yugoslavia for a 3-week tour and media appearances. He played for the president, in various local churches, and at the halftime performance for John Elway’s first NFL game.
After high school, the Washington, D.C., native followed his father’s footsteps by graduating from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, with a biology degree while staying involved in music. (His mother, 2 nephews, and siblings are also graduates.)
As a former section leader and president of the marching band, Gerald was the first non-music major soloist to perform a recital piece at Ogden Hall.
In 1997, he moved to Frederick for a job in pharmaceutical industry. A decade later, he joined the Frederick Symphony Orchestra. This is his story:
Who’s your dream duet?
“If I could play for 5 minutes with Wynton Marsalis, I think I’d pass out. I met him one time…and we talked just shop for about 3 to 5 minutes about what he practiced…but if I had an opportunity to sit down, spend a little time, even take a lesson from him for 5 minutes, I wouldn’t make it through, but I’d enjoy it.”
Who inspires you the most?
“My dad. There’s no vocabulary to describe [who] he’s been to me and for me, as a father, as a coach. I mean, he’s worn so many hats in my life, and he inspires me. I’m proud to be his son.
He’s been my hero since my first recollections, and even to this day at 92 years old, he still teaches me a lot of things about life. I never looked to athletes or [anyone] like that as role models. I had the best one right there in the house. He’s always been this ultimate supporter, mentor.
Dad just has a special place. He’s just a phenomenal person. I’m so lucky to have had him, and to still have him this long. To say he’s a role model is really just an understatement to the role he’s played in my life. I can’t say enough.”
What do you love about music?
“I like the whole idea of that process of getting something, and it’s raw, and you don’t know what you’re doing and working through. Then, having that concert, it’s so gratifying that you’ve gone through that process, and you perform, and you get all of the positive feedback. People would never know just a few weeks earlier how incompetent you were, but I enjoy that process.”
When and where was your first concert?
“Mom had me come up to her school one day, and this older piano player…had a book of patriotic songs in it. I go up there with my book, which is pitched in B flat, and I put it down on the piano player’s stand, and she starts playing.
I immediately think, ‘Wait. Something sounds different about it,’ and I started playing this song. We were one whole step apart. It sounded like something out of avant-garde. That was one of my first lessons in transposition. That was one of the first times I remember playing publicly.”
Why did you choose the trumpet?
“Back [in the 70s], the TV shows all had great theme music…that involved the trumpet, and when I was just getting started, the benchmark for whether you could play the trumpet or not was whether you could play Feel So Good by Chuck Mangione.
All of those bands back in the day, TV shows, Chuck Mangione, it was all in your face all the time. The biggest thing, though, was whenever the president arrived, what do you see? Harold trumpets.
Those little influences (including that of Earth, Wind & Fire’s horn section) that happen a little bit at a time to let you know, ‘Hey, wait a minute. That’s the right instrument right there. That’s the one you want to play.’ It was always in your ear. It made sense.”
How has music changed your life?
“If someone told me when I was younger that I was going to be a musician, I would’ve never thought that. There are so many things about it that are so enjoyable. I’ve got such great memories, so many great friendships. It’s made me the person I am.”
Catch Gerald and the rest of the FSO in our next concert, Symphonic Pipes at Hood College, on March 19, 2017, at 3 p.m.