Dallas Jazz Hero
Freddie Jones, a trumpet player, composer and producer born in Memphis but – having earned his jazz degrees from University of North Texas Denton – long based in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, can’t remember the day he didn’t want to be a musician. So he tries to make sure that local students are given free lessons, access to workshops, and opportunities (which he arranged) to hear and meet with professional trumpet players such as Arturo Sandoval, Chris Botti and Nicholas Payton when they’ve come to town.
In 2007, engaging with two young girls from Grapevine, Texas who’d come to hear him, he learned they wanted to play, too, but couldn’t afford instruments. He gifted them trumpets, and becoming aware there were others in similar circumstances, started donating horns to children and teens in need. Three years ago he made that initiative official, founding the Trumpets4Kids Foundation to allow him to offer brass to young people in conjunction with a music education program that has certain established protocols. Recipients of instruments sign a contract agreeing to practice one hour a day, maintain their tools, help teach other kids and perform for them. They’re asked to return their trumpets to Trumpets4Kids if they decide to quit playing.
Jones believes that having kids perform music, whether jazz or classical, at a respectable skill level can enable them to conjure and realize their own dreams. When student bands play for kids who are homeless, ill or in other at-risk situations, the children may envision a future beyond his or her present situations. Whether a musician or listener, each sees a larger world, populated by their peers, and can imagine what more involvement may lead to.
“Music is the universal language of our world,” he proclaims on the Trumpets4Kids website. “It is a part of life in every country and culture. It is also a powerful tool to help children learn and shape their lives. Music fosters the development of attention and listening skills; it assists in emotional development; and music involvement is known to enhance self-esteem and confidence.” Jones speaks from experience; look where music’s gotten him. His Freddie Jones Jazz Group has toured the U.S. and Europe, gigs frequently at home, and he proudly plays “The Star-Spangled Banner,” at NFL games where the blue of Jazz Hero Freddie Jones’ Martin Committee trumpet echoes the blue of our Dallas Cowboys.
—By Joanna St. Angelo
