Courtney D. Jones ’09 attended Shenandoah Conservatory to study trumpet performance with a professor he admires and respects, former Adjunct Assistant Professor J. Carlton Rowe ’70. “He exudes a caring personality that has kept him in high esteem with his peers, students and I am ever grateful to have had him as a teacher, mentor and friend.”
Rowe was not the only professor who helped shaped Jones into the musician he is today. He also credits Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business Dean Miles Davis, Auxiliary Adjunct Assistant Instrumental Professor Craig Fraedrich, former Student Life Coordinator Cathy Kuehner, Harrison Endowed Chair and Associate Professor Bob Larson ’08, Instrumental Division Professors Scott Nelson and Jan Wagner and Conservatory Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Karen Walker, just to name a few. “In a way, I’m an amalgamation of either their teaching or performance philosophy. Directly or indirectly, they displayed an example of what it takes to not only be a professional, but how to do it effectively and efficiently in the real world.”
Jones is the Professor of Trumpet and Artistic Director of Jazz Ensembles at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. In addition to these positions at the university, he is also the principal trumpet of the Florida Atlantic Brass Quintet, teaches graduate brass pedagogy and literature, music theory, and leads the premier Jazz Orchestra all while providing weekly trumpet lessons and seminars to his students.
“I enjoy living in the present. More often than not, we are so focused on the future or reminiscing about the past that we forget about living in the present. That is the most rewarding experience.”
Jones has shared the stage with famous artists or groups such as Kenny Burrell, B.B. King, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Rihanna, Lalo Schifrin, Boy George and The Culture Club and Stevie Wonder. In addition to his solo performance career, he has also performed classical music with the Golden States Pop Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony Orchestra, the Macao Orchestra (China), the Pasadena Orchestra, the Debut Orchestra, the Inspiravi Chamber Orchestra, the Long Beach Opera, the Chamber Singers of Iowa City and the Los Angeles Trombone Collective. He has also been featured in television shows like “Glee,” “Cougar Town” and “Criminal Minds.”
Between teaching and solo performances, Jones finds time to volunteer with Music Outreach Programs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), The Harmony Project of Los Angeles and Trumpets 4 Kids in Dallas, Texas, to help underserved music programs within inner-city school districts.
The advice that Jones has for students is: “Be a sponge, surround yourself with like-minded individuals and do good things!”