Meet Melvin Jones | Award Winning Musician & Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melvin Jones and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melvin, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I think the most important factor behind any success is how you actually ‘define’ your success. Too many people get so caught up in chasing the outward signs or appearances of what they believe represents success such as money, fame, and really impressive photos on social media outlets. Those types of things are nice but tend to only serve as peripheral effects of true success. Historically, the more superficial gains have never been the actual goals for most of history’s most successful individuals, but rather a byproduct of true success. For example, my personal definition of success is the ability to provide a comfortable lifestyle for my family while still being a part of my family. I’ve found just that after years of grinding behind the scenes and missing the hangs with friends in the industry. The off stage work has literally created the life that I used to think was unattainable my field, and has opened more doors for me to be on the world’s largest stages without sacrificing every opportunity to actually be a part of our children’s successes and accomplishments. Understanding that benchmark as my own form of success and making that my goal has ultimately catapulted my career to places I never even knew were possible! So I’d tell those out here looking for success to avoid getting so caught up in a false sense of winning that they actually miss the wins they’ve earned.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a musician by trade but that is an umbrella term. As a musician, I have been a signed recording artist, an arranger, a side musician, a co-producer, a recording engineer, a mixing engineer, a touring artist, as well as making numerous television and film appearances both on and off camera. And to date I have received honors, awards, and nominations for nearly all of those roles. However, I’m most proud of my childrens’ newfound excitement in the things that I do! Normally, I get to travel around the world an perform along with legends and meet prolific world leaders on some of the world’s largest stages. However, I was recently blessed with the opportunity to perform on the Oscars under the leadership of my brother for life, Adam Blackstone who served as the musical director for the program. On this year’s show, I was called upon to arrange and record horns for a segment highlighting the music of Encanto, most notably “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” and was even flown out to LA to make an appearance for that portion of the show. This may be one of the first times that our girls even took an interest in my work, let alone repeatedly expressed excitement over it! That made it all worth it!! However….I want to state that living your dream and working your dream job does not mean you will not be working! I’m kind of tired of that phrase that states ïf you do what you love for a living, you never work a day in your life.” That’s simply not true. It actually takes MORE work to correctly do the things you love to do as a career! It’s not easy at all.. Over the years I’ve had to sacrifice a lot of the things that non-entrepreneural workers take for granted. Things like “business hours,” weekends, family time, and just overall availability to hang out with friends were always sidelined desires for the sake of insuring that my work met my wish for a sustainable lifestyle for my family. I used to joke a lot amongst other musical/ artistic friends that the TGIF phrase was B.S. because we never actually got off work for the weekends. The weekends were our workdays! And the countless hours of life spent in hotels, airplanes, taxis, and just in transit in general far outweigh the 2-3 hour timespans spent on actual stages. But those hours are also spent alone and isolated from family save the ability to FaceTime or simply call loved ones. It was not until the global pandemic that I was forced to sit down for a moment and really figure out a different way to still work effectively, but still be present in the lives of our children. It took some honest reassessment of my current career choices to see that I had already payed certain dues, and there was no need to continue to pay the same dues over and over again. Now, I am in a much better position to demand my circumstances and work situations are more suitable and more suitably compensated…and I believe that is largely because I made the decision to balance out my priorities more appropriately. Now instead of merely experiencing life, I am SHARING my life with the ones who I have always pledged my life to. Instead of just working to create a home and household of peace, I’m actually spending time in that home and in that peace. That is the ultimate lesson I’ve learned over the years. Not only is it possible to have a happy home and create a sustainable career simultaneously….. treating the home the right way it turns out makes it possible to advance my career even further than I thought was possible. There are many ecumenical or philosophical references that I could make to this phenomenon in my life…..but to simplify it I like to think that if you take care of your life, it will ultimately take care of you. Funny enough…you could insert ‘nearly’ any word to substitute for the word “life” in that statement and it would still hold true. So if there’s anything I’d want the world to know about my story, it’s that you HAVE to pay dues and make sacrifices for the things you want, but make sure you do so in a way that makes it possible to step up to the next level of your life when the time comes. Make sure you create a life that is worth living on the other side of those sacrifices.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them to Qatar or other regions within the UAE. I’ve been fortunate enough to touch down on six of the seven continents for the sake of work, and I found that my time in that region was the most enlightening (and had some of the best food!). I would take them to the Souk Waqif in Doha to shop and experience for themselves what it is like when prayer hour begins in the region. Never have I seen such a unified system of belief in which ALL markets, shops, and restaurants close down for the sake of observing a shared faith. Also, I’ve never been in such an environment that is peaceful enough to share so many cultural ideas without disrespecting others. A lesson I believe could be shared with a lot of our countrymen and women here in the states! I would love to take them to hang out at Al Maroona beach, to have a drink at any of the night clubs/ bars in the W. Then maybe we’d catch a show at the jazz club in Doha where I have so many fond memories. And finally, as a tech head and music enthusiast, I’d love to take them on a tour of Katari Studios which I believe to be the most amazing suite of recording studios I have EVER seen! And at least one day we would have to splurge on a meal at Hakkassan which I have to say had some of the most AMAZING food of the region. There’s something about having food in it’s non-altered, most natural form before preparation…. I mean I never knew the difference in taste of farm-to-table food AND spices until I stayed in the UAE. It forced me to further appreciate the options we have right here at home. And lastly, I would love to revisit the various museums of the region. We get such a limited view of the world from our bubbles here, and our history books are somewhat curated. But to see unfiltered history in real life from the eyes of “the other side” I think would temper certain ideas and ideologies in a way that could inspire a little more civility amongst our differences.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to shout out the support and guidance of all of my teachers, mentors, and most definitely my parents in my endeavors. As a teacher and parent myself, I’ve come to deeply appreciate all of the contributions made to my own successes by those that poured into my own matriculation. My parents believed in my potential despite my own efforts to sabotage myself regularly, and they supported every activity I pursued graciously. Whether it showed in physical support or in the willingness to endure unending practice hours and rehearsals, they made it clear that they always had my back. My teachers went well beyond the call of the classroom to provide me with support and guidance at every possible turn. In high school, my band director Kim Hass made it a point to push me to believe that I could achieve more on my instrument than I believed, and she provided me with opportunities and ample instructional support to do just that. In college, the entire Music Faculty of Morehouse College made it a point to keep the pressure on and to teach me that my successes are not just my own. I learned from them that being blessed with abilities and opportunities ultimately means passing those blessings on to the next man/ woman. And lastly to the the late great Trumpet Impresario, William Fielder, my graduate school Trumpet Professor. This man’s life and legacy are a testament to selfless service as a requirement of long-lasting success. But in my life, he served as one of the most effective mentors helping me to transition from being a busy follower into being a more influential leader in my chosen field. Teachers are not often given enough credit for the difference they make in the lives of EVERYONE in this particular country, but I want to make it known that the educators in my life have had more of a lasting impact than any athlete or public figure I’ve seen on TV. Thank you for all that you do, and I hope that the life I live helps to contribute to the legacies you all have created.

Website: www.melvinjones.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melvinjonestpt/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/melvinjonestpt

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjtrumpet79

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/noiresoldier

Image Credits
Holland Reid Photography (Professional Headshots and Promo Shots) Vincent Bursey (Morehouse College Archival photos)