Jazz Articles about Mike Jones

About Mike Jones

Album Review

Mike Jones: Mike Jones With Strings

Read "Mike Jones With Strings" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 1, 2026

Pianist Mike Jones' With Strings does not denote a sizable orchestral design but a piano-jazz trio in which a guitar replaces the drums, a format introduced in the 1930s by Nat King Cole's peerless trio and favored for years by the legendary Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson with Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel or Joe Pass on guitar. One thing that Jones, bassist Alex Frank and guitarist Graham Dechter share in common with those earlier groups is an unambiguous capacity--one ...

Album Review

Mike Jones: Mike Jones With Strings

Read "Mike Jones With Strings" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
August 21, 2026

There is something refreshingly honest about a drummerless trio. Without the cushion of cymbals and snare to drive the pulse, every note matters a little more. This format dates back to the Nat King Cole Trio in the 1930s and to the Oscar Peterson-celebrated groups of the 1950s, in which the guitar and bass took responsibility for keeping the music moving. Mike Jones clearly understands that tradition, and Mike Jones with Strings embraces it with confidence and style.

Album Review

Mike Jones: Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You're Doing?

Read "Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You're Doing?" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 19, 2023

Some years ago, after Penn Jillette heard Mike Jones playing in a small club in Las Vegas, he approached the pianist, introduced himself, and said he would like to hire Jones to open his popular magic show, Penn & Teller--on one condition. And what might that condition be, Jones asked, to which Jillette replied, “I'm your bassist." Jones readily agreed, starting a long-running collaboration that has led at last to this superlative album --with Jillette on bass, of course, and ...

Album Review

Mike Jones / Penn Jillette / Jeff Hamilton: Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You're Doing?

Read "Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You're Doing?" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
August 18, 2023

If the tired old cliché “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" ruled the roost, perhaps the talents of pianist Mike Jones might have been limited to being the music director for the Penn & Teller Las Vegas show of mind-blowing illusions. Fortunately, a tired old cliché is just that. Jones' dynamic talent and creativity could not be “kept under a bushel." He joined forces with the exceptional and versatile drummer Jeff Hamilton and the surprisingly talented bassist Penn Jillette, ...

Album Review

Mike Jones: All By Myself

Read "All By Myself" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 21, 2021

While jazz is a social music through and through, solitude has always spurred creation too. And in the age of COVID-19, when safety often stands in the way of musical gatherings, solo efforts seem to be the way to go. For pianist Mike Jones, the idea of playing solo piano is far from a stretch. Jones first drew serious attention for his Dave McKenna-inspired, “three-handed" feats on a series of solo efforts for the Chiaroscuro label starting ...

Album Review

Mike Jones/Penn Jillette: The Show Before The Show

Read "The Show Before The Show" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 2, 2018

If you travel to Sin City and visit the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino at the appointed time, you'll find legendary duo Penn & Teller entertaining a packed house in their namesake theater with their signature blend of magic and humor. But if you get there forty-five minutes early, you get so much more with the addition of the show before the show. That's when Penn & Teller's musical director--pianist Mike Jones--lets his Dave McKenna-style chops off the leash on ...

Album Review

Mike Jones Trio: Roaring

by Dan Bilawsky
June 22, 2016

The musical legacy of The Roaring Twenties is alive and kicking. For his second date on the Capri imprint, pianist Mike Jones decided to pull together a collection of Jazz Age nuggets and drop into the studio for a nonchalant session with bassist Katie Thiroux and drummer Matt Witek--a blue-chip rhythm duo whose musical stock has steadily been on the rise in the past few years. Jones had never recorded with the pair before, there were no rehearsals, and everything, ...