About

Biography

Jeremy Jones was raised in Denver, Colorado, and attended college at Duke University where he studied with Paul Jeffrey and received the Lionel Hampton Scholarship for Jazz Studies.  In this time in the Duke Jazz Program Jeremy had the opportunity to perform and write arrangements for many visiting guest artists including Jeb Patton, Harry Pickens, Vincent Herring, Jimmy Greene, Derrick Gardner, Winard Harper and George Cables.

After graduating from Duke in 2002, Jeremy moved to Seattle and joined the diverse musical scene of the Pacific Northwest.  In 2003 and 2005, he was selected to Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, an international residency program for young emerging jazz composers.  In 2008 he released an album of his original compositions entitled Awakening to Life with his group Jeremy Jones Xtet featuring Thomas Marriott, Steve Treseler, John Hansen, and Phil Sparks.

Jeremy played in the dynamic Seattle-based trio The Teaching along with Josh Rawlings and Evan Flory-Barnes.  The Teaching has released five full-length albums, including Live at Dazzle and Birds in Flight on the Dazzle Recordings Label, and What a Joy which was recorded at the Triple Door in Seattle.  The Teaching won the Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award for Best Northwest Acoustic Jazz Ensemble in 2009 and Band of Year by the Inside/Out Awards in 2010.  The Teaching hosted “The Hang”, a weekly jam session, for over 3 years, creating collaboration opportunities with instrumentalists, vocalists, rappers, and dancers in the Seattle area and beyond. Touring musicians such as Roy Hargrove, Robert Glasper, and Henry Butler came to The Hang and played alongside The Teaching.

Jeremy received a GRAMMY Nomination in 2014 for playing drums on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ album The Heist which was nominated for Album of the Year, and became a Featured-Artist on a GRAMMY-Winning album when The Heist won in the Best Rap Album category. The Teaching was a featured artist on the track BomBom. In May 2014, The Teaching performed a Sold-Out Concert at The Triple Door in Seattle to celebrate their newest album Birds of Flight and their GRAMMY Nomination.

In September 2014, Jeremy was selected as a Guest Drummer to play drumset alongside the Seahawks Blue Thunder Drumline for the Broncos/Seahawks game at Lumen Field in Seattle. Jeremy has performed or recorded with Billy Taylor, Winard Harper, The Coats, Chevy Chase, Marc Seales, Choklate, Amos Miller,  Kelley Johnson, Isabella Du Graf, Aham Oluo, New Seattle Brass Ensemble, LoveCityLove, and Gina Sala.

In addition to performing and recording in the Seattle area, Jeremy has performed often in his home state of Colorado, and has performed throughout the United States and internationally in Italy, Peru, and Colombia.  Jeremy has given many music workshops and performances at schools including “Navigating the Music Industry + Living Your Passion”  at Duke University (2015), Faculty for the Jazz in July program at the University of Massachusetts (2001), the Discover Dance program of Pacific Northwest Ballet (2010-2015), University Child Development School in Seattle (2012), Composition Workshop at his alma mater Pomona High School in Arvada (2012), Colorado, and “Unleashing Your Creativity” workshops presented in Seattle and Denver (2009-2010).

Jeremy has performed all over the Pacific Northwest at venues including Royal Room, Town Hall, Tula’s Jazz Club, New Orleans Jazz Restaurant, Experience Music Project, Benaroya Hall, Triple Door, Jazz Alley, Moore Theater, KEXP Studios, Egan’s Ballard Jam House, McCaw Hall, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, Lo-Fi Performance Gallery, Neumo’s, Nectar, Lucid Jazz Louge, Bumbershoot, Bite of Seattle, Taste of Tacoma, Seattle Art Museum “Art of Jazz” Series, CenturyLink Field, Sonarchy Radio, Kirkland Performing Arts Center, Rendezvous Theater,  ACT Theater,  Georgetown Ballroom, Ross Ragland Theater,  Liberty Theater,  Alberta Rose Theater, Boxley’s, Jazz Vespers Series, Edgewater Hotel, Bellevue Jazz in the Park, Mercer Island’s Mostly Music in the Park, Jazz TV,

Since 2006, Jeremy has been following a path of yoga meditation that also includes a style of music called Kirtan which comes from the spiritual traditions of India. He plays harmonium, regularly leading kirtan chanting sessions, and has recorded many devotional chants (bhajans) and a series of chants by Paramahansa Yogananda from the book Cosmic Chants.

In 2023 Jeremy released a new full-length of Album “The Eternal Path”, available on all major other streaming platforms. It is comprised of 12 original compositions by Josh Rawlings, Tim Carey, and Jeremy.

Selected Awards

  • Earshot Golden Ear Award for "Northwest Concert of the Year" as part of Jacqueline Tabor and Marina Albero's "Don't Explain" concert in the 2022 Earshot Jazz Festival (2022)
  • GRAMMY-Nomination in Album of the Year for The Heist (2014)
  • Featured Artist on GRAMMY-Winning Album The Heist, Best Rap Album (2014)
  • Selected as Guest Drummer with Seahawks Blue Thunder Drumline (2014)
  • Endorsed by Regal Tip on Featured Artist Roster (2014)
  • Inside/Out Jazz Award for Band of the Year w/ The Teaching (2010)
  • Inside/Out Jazz Award for Most Dynamic Performance w/ Evan Flory-Barnes’ Acknowledgement of a Celebration (2010)
  • Winner of Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award for Best Northwest Acoustic Jazz Ensemble w/ The Teaching (2009)
  • Nominated for Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award for Emerging Artist of 2008 w/ The Teaching (2008)
  • Serafin Sanchez Jeremy Jones Quintet Album Live at Dazzle Named a “Top Pick of 2007” by Westword Magazine (2007)
  • Selected to Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at The Kennedy Center (2005)
  • Selected to Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at The Kennedy Center (2003)
  • Selected to Telluride Jazz Festival All-Stars (2002) B.S. Degree from Duke University, 3.93 GPA, Phi Beta Kappa Induction (2002)
  • Lionel Hampton Jazz Scholarship, Duke University (1999-2002)
  • Valedictorian at Pomona High School, 4.0 GPA (1998)
  • Percussionist of the Year for Pomona High School (1998)
  • Percussionist of the Year for Pomona High School (1997)
  • Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble, 2nd Place WGI Championships (1997)
  • Pomona High School Marching Band, State Champions (1994, 1995, 1996), 5th Place National Championships (1996), Tournament of Roses Parade (1996)

Press Excerpts

"… Jones delivers, letting his drumsticks fly and crash against the drumhead, his brown ponytail bouncing to the beat. Over the next few minutes, he weaves together a string of rhythms with his sticks, moving easily from a swing jazz beat to hip-hop to bossa nova and back again."
Christina Holder
Duke Magazine, Winter 2015
"Jeremy is shredding his drum kit like a samurai, using weapons that range from shakers to bells to mallets to the butte end of his own drumsticks. I have never seen a man play jazz drums with more intensity."
Colorado Music Buzz Magazine
March 2007
"The five songs are a vibrant feast of sound: the melodies are fresh and radiant, and provide a springboard for the group’s open and shifting improvisations. By seamlessly expanding the borders of jazz and welcoming different families of sound, groups like The Teaching help point the way forward. And when such talent is combined with a strong spiritual imperative, the results are bound to be compelling; surely Coltrane would approve."
Florence Wetzel, All About Jazz
Jan 25th 2012, Reviewing The Teaching’s Live at Dazzle
"When it’s over all you want to do is hit replay."
Colorado Music Buzz Magazine
July 2007. Reviewing Serafin Sanchez Jeremy Jones Quintet Album Live at Dazzle

Press Articles

Selected Travel Performances

  • Dazzle Jazz Club w/ Serafin Sanchez / Jeremy Jones Quintet; Jeremy Jones Xtet; The Teaching – Denver, CO
  • Dazzle Jazz Club w/ Serafin Sanchez / Jeremy Jones Quintet; Jeremy Jones Xtet; The Teaching – Denver, CO
  • D Note w/ Serafin Sanchez / Jeremy Jones Quintet, The Teaching – Arvada, CO
  • Paul Jeffrey Memorial Concert w/ John Brown, Jeb Patton, Todd Bashore, Geoff Burke, Duke University’s Baldwin Auditorium (Aug 2015)
  • Jepson Art Museum w/ The Teaching – Savannah, GA (Oct 2010)
  • Jazz Festival Lima w/ Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra – Lima, Peru (Apr 2007)
  • The Jazz Standard w/ Winard Harper Sextet – New York City (2006)
  • Page Auditorium, Duke University w/ Chevy Chase – Durham, NC (2003)
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst w/ Billy Taylor Trio (Jul 2001)
  • Tour of Italy w/ Paul Jeffrey (Aug 2001)