Patrick Stanfield Jones
MUSIC
Gallery
Haor Bachashecha (acoustic)
UPCOMING SHOWS
Photo By: Sigal Mizrahi
Patrick Stanfield Jones
"Absolutely Brilliant"
- Bob Harris BBC Radio 2
"Impressive Crazy
Horse-via-REM effortlessness"
- Mojo
Patrick Stanfield Jones is a guitarist and vocalist, composer and lyricist, arranger and producer. A lifelong performer, He has shared the stage as a supporting musician with many well known acts, recording artists, has made T.V. appearances in England, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. Patrick has been a touring and backing musician with the Isley Brothers, Whitney Houston, Buddy Miles, and Imelda Staunton. He has also opened for Albert Collins, Taj Mahal, Charlie Daniels, Hubert Sumlin, War, Papa John Creach and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.
Patrick began to learn guitar around the age of 13, and recalls having his older brother, Dalton play Chuck Berry’s ‘Promised Land’ for him on an acoustic. “I loved the rolling rhythm that came out, and Chuck’s lyrics of traveling across the country, it also being a song portraying with each city mentioned the hot spots of the civil rights movement”.
He returned to live with his brother in Conway, Massachusetts in 1973, and played in various bands of all genres. The 5 college area of western Massachusetts provided a fertile learning ground, with many venues to play, and many musicians to meet and learn from. Upon graduating 1975, he formed a band called ‘Fairchild’ with fellow composers Larry Forbes and Duncan Nichols, and played almost exclusively original material. The blend was eclectic, and the band was considered to one of the most original bands in the area, blending folk, jazz, funk, and blues combined with heartfelt and humorous lyrics. They toured the Northeast from Maine to Vermont and southward into Connecticut and New York state.
Patrick got his first real break when he passed the audition as guitarist for the National Tour of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in 1980, and traveled the country playing in theatres and sitting in on jazz jam sessions after the shows end. Here he was exposed to the world of theatre and acting. He also recorded his first project with the funds from touring and started to play his own gigs fronting the band at the end of the tour. 1982 saw him again on the road with a bus and truck version of ‘Oh, Calcutta!’ where the itinerary showed 135 cities 192 shows in 180 days. At tours end, he teamed with fellow songwriter Josh Radin, and formed the ‘Immolators’, a high powered rock funk band again doing mostly originals laced with diverse covers ranging from Prince to Joni Mitchell, Charlie Parker and New Wave rockers such as Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe. Brother Kevin ‘Bujo’ Jones secured an audition for him in the R&B supergroup ‘Isley, Jasper, Isley’, and toured with them and Luther Vandross. This association led him to touring with superstar Whitney Houston, and he toured the world in 1986.
Patrick toured again in 1990 with ‘Oh,Calcutta!’,and worked with Buddy Miles briefly in the mid 90’s. At this juncture, Pat decided to return to his roots and spent the next decade playing with the Sylvester Brothers; a roots rock band based on groove, good lyric material and straight ahead Rock and Roll and Blues originals. He also ventured back into three small theatre productions, Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘Spunk’, a collection of tales from the south, Melvin Kelley’s ‘Sothern Exposure ’and most recently,‘Woody Guthrie’s ‘American Song’,singing and playing guitar along with the cast.
Patrick discovered classical music in the late 1990’s, playing Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall, doing composer Ned Rorem’s ‘Songs of Sadness’ in 2004. He has since begun to compose songs in the classical vein. For the past 2 years, Patrick has been working on his latest project, honing and developing his writing and arranging skills even more. This project is essentially a mix of well seasoned musicians which bring in their own eclectic elements, Patrick Jones now sets forth on a new chapter in his career.
