About Eugenie Jones
Since she burst on the jazz scene in 2013, the award-winning, Seattle-basedvocalist, composer, producer, and legacy activist Eugenie Jones has been one of our time's most evocative and evolving artists. NEA Jazz Master and bassist Reggie Workman described Jones as "an extraordinary singer, songwriter, and a source of light we're fortunate to experience." Thomas Staudter of The Gazette/New York lauded Jones for her "tremendous talent, tireless energy, and buoyant spirit," and Mark Holston of Jazziz praised Jones for her "…keen sense of phrasing, [which] makes her extremely persuasive. Like a veteran horn soloist, she slides effortlessly from one octave to the next, always landing on the right, pitch-perfect note."
Jones displayed all those attributes on her first four releases: Black Lace, Blue Tears(2013), Come Out Swinging (2015), Players (2022), and The Originals (2024). With the release of her new album, Eugenie Jones extends and elaborates on her jazz-honed, vivid, and vivacious vocals. Jones' vocals, which have been praised by legendary bandleader Joe Chambers as "Excellent" and capable of encompassing multiple idioms, are a true testament to her musical prowess.
Unlike Players - a two-disc album recorded in Dallas, New York, Chicago, and Seattle with thirty-two world-class jazz musicians, including bassists Reggie Workman and Lonnie Plaxico; drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie; percussionist Bobby Sanabria; trumpeter Marquis Hill and legendary trombonist Julian Priester - Eugenie Jones is a single disc project that cast a focused spotlight on the depth and breadth of Jones' lyricism as a songwriter with 32 published songs to her credit, her adaptive vocal style from sultry blues to hard-swinging classics, and her ability to create intensely passionate renderings of emotively gripping ballads.
"At this point in my life, the things that are important to me and the things that I'm feeling are different than when I recorded Players two years ago in 2022," Jones says. "This project reflects that change in mental focus, that progression of ideas and abilities that have enabled me to mature as a singer/songwriter and gain the confidence to take on more complex and challenging compositions.
I didn't study music in school. I graduated with an MBA and worked successfully in corporate marketing before realizing my inherent musical abilities, which I believe I inherited from my mother. But even without the benefit of a formal music education, I'm blessed to be able to create songs that resonate with listeners, entertain, and lift hearts."
Eugenie Jones features 13 selections composed of selections featuring music associated with Nat Adderley, Oscar Brown, Jr., Nina Simone, Peggy Lee, Duke Ellington, and Carole King. In addition to her special “Eugenie-izing” interpretation of these classics, this release further exemplifies Jones’ ability to be an intelligent, thoughtful composer in the tradition of Abbey Lincoln and Nina Simone.
Eugenie Jones was recorded in two cities: The New York sessions featured Plaxico on bass; pianists Brandon McCune and Mamiko Watanabe; Russell Carter on drums; Rico Jones on saxophone; trumpeter Gil Defay; Jessica Wang on cello; violinist Yoojin Park and percussionist Kahlil Bell.
The musicians on the Seattle date included pianist Darrius Willrich, saxophonist Alex Dugdale, bassist Elliot Kuykendall, drummer Ronnie Bishop, guitarist Michael Powers, pianist Peter Adams, Chris Symer on bass, and Ernesto Pediangco on percussion.
Jones chose Plaxico to produce the record. “I've never worked with a producer who worked with me to take on some of the load of releasing a project, and I wanted to see how bringing another voice into that conversation would be different. Since Lonnie had been a part of my previous project and the tour, I asked him to produce."
A professional musician since 14-years of age, Plaxico's immense knowledge base combined with Jones' skill holding the pen and mic make for a grand collaboration of sound and ideas. Jones adds her arrangement spice to some well-seasoned favorites. Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing" swings with a wee bit of rhythmic displacement that Jones vocally plays with; "I Love Being Here with You," A Peggy Lee staple that jazz great Ernestine Anderson - Jones' Seattle predecessor - adopted as her signature song is rendered by Jones and company in midtempo mellow tones that are both bluesy and contemporary in its storyline. Jones takeson Earle Hagen's "Harlem Nocturne" with wonderfully shaped tones matched and beautifully buoyed by the horn play of saxophonist Rico Jones.
At the same time, Jones imbues and reshapes Carole King's "Natural Woman," adding strings and newly written background vocals that result in a beautifully different outcome of this well-known Aretha Franklin classic. Jones brings the gospel glow she grew up listening to into her version of Nina Simone's "Sinnerman," Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man," arranged by Plaxico, and her rendition of the Nat Adderley/Oscar Brown classic "Work Song."
Beyond containing uniquely arranged standards, Jones’ originals on this release highlight an artist who is growing by compositional leaps and bounds. Hercompelling storylines in the ballad "Starlight, Starbright" and the waltz-tempo of "Nothing Better" are both reminiscent of great romantic ballads, layered with beautiful string arrangements performed by cellist Jessica Wang and violinist Yoojin Park. While her glass-half-full unfolding in "Hold Back the Night" is an inspirational selection that gives listeners an alternative approach to dealing with life's troubles. Jones' additional compositions include the Latin-tinged and sassy "It's Okay" and the percussion-propelled, bluesy swagger of "Say What You Will." Last, but certainly not least is the original, "Why I Sing," which tells the story of Jones' Sisyphean commitment to her music.
Eugenie Jones's music career originates from Morgantown, West Virginia, where she was born and raised with five sisters and three brothers. Her father, Eugene, was the Director of the family's local Friendship Baptist Church Choir, and her mother sang first soprano. She grew up listening to Nancy Wilson and Motown, earned her MBA, moved to the Seattle area, married, and raised a family. But Jones didn't begin her singing career until later in life, after the death of her mother in 2008, to carry forward a part of her mother's life.
After woodshedding with local bands for many years, Jones released her debut CD, Black Lace Blue Tears, in 2013. Kirk Silsbee's 3.5-star review of the CD in Down Beat magazine praised Jones for her "rhythm and swinging" and her "unforced lyricism." In 2013 Jones' project was the first vocal release to win Earshot Jazz's NW Recording of the Year award. On the strength of her 2015 follow-up release, Come Out Swingin', she won the title of NW Vocalist of the Year from Earshot, and the CD was lauded in Jazziz magazine for her "smoke-and-satin vocals in settingsthat float like a butterfly and swing like a night at the Savoy."
Jones garnered more critical acclaim with the release of Players in 2022. The double CD topped the Jazz Week Top 50 chart at # 7 and was #30 on Jazz Week's Top 100 Albums of the Year listings. In 2024, Jones released The Originals, a compendium of self-penned selections from her recordings.
Jones has performed in many venues nationwide, including Minton's Playhouse/NY; Blue Llama/Ann Arbor; Atlanta Jazz Festival; Twins/DC; Sistas' Place/NY; Scat Jazz Lounge/Dallas/Ft. Worth, KUVO Studios/Denver, Piano Forte/Chicago, The Jazz Station/OR, Dirty Dog Jazz Café/MI, and The National Jazz Museum/Harlem. She paid tribute to legendary Seattle vocalist Ernestine Anderson in November 2021 at LHPAI, an event she co-produced with Stix Hooper, the legendary drummer and founding member of the soul-fusion groupThe Crusaders, who also managed Anderson.
In 2023, Jones received the Jazz Journalists Association's Jazz Hero Award for her nonprofit, Music for a Cause, which for seven years has presented Seattle's Jackson Street Jazz Walk, employing 20 live bands on ten community stages, and raising funds for community service organizations.
The release of Eugenie Jones represents a new signpost, a timestamp by an artist continuing her ever-evolving artistry. "It's vital to my existence to know that I'm growing, being more today than yesterday. This project is one more step in that life-fulfilling direction." | 
