Jesse Jones is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. His music lurks on the liminal lines between folk, bluegrass, the classical tradition, and the European Avant-garde. Described as 'striking,[…]elegant and poised,' in the New York Times, 'engaging,[…]eerie, and well-written' in the Los Angeles Times, 'fascinating' and possessed of 'the melodic earthiness of Britten' (New York Classical Review), Jones’s numerous compositions are wide-ranging in style, instrumentation, and affect.
A professional, touring musician in the genre-hopping Jones/Butterfield Duo, Jones is equally at home on mandolin-, guitar-, and banjo-family instruments, and also plays various keyboard instruments. He has even been known to sing on rare occasions, usually after sips of whisky.
Jones is featured as both a composer and instrumentalist on no fewer than 16 commercially released albums, across 6 different labels, several of which are all-Jones compilations. He has appeared with orchestras, mandolin in hand, has been featured at numerous folk and bluegrass festivals across the states, and even played on the nationally broadcast 'A Prairie Home Companion With Garrison Keillor' in the early 2000s.
Jones currently resides with his family in Ohio, where he teaches at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as Associate Professor of Composition. In his spare time, Jones enjoys building musical instruments, reading, painting, and smoking a pipe.