Jones Jams Awaken Students to 21st Century Blues

Jones Jams Awaken Students to 21st Century Blues

CHICAGO, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- When Fernando Jones starts talking about the blues, students wake up. When he is playing the blues, audiences stand up. Because he loves to teach, play and sing the blues, Jones's career is moving up -- and he's taking others with him. He encourages literacy while teaching elementary, high school and college students the sound, history and value of blues music. And this month, Jones was named one of only 21 individuals and organizations from the U.S., Canada, France and Sweden selected to receive The Blues Foundation's 2008 Keeping the Blues Alive Award in Memphis early next year.

"I consider myself a 21st century bluesman who's knocking down a lot of negative stereotypes that haunt the blues and blues musicians," Jones explained. "I like to introduce or remind people of the richness of their father's or grandfather's blues. I was attracted to my older brother's blues when I was four years old. But because I'm still relatively young, I also can use lively music to draw some credible lines from authentic blues to similarities in jazz, rap and hip hop."

Jones is on a mission to show people "the joy, beauty and grit of the Blues" through teaching, lectures, and concert performances throughout the U.S. His Blues Kids of America is an internationally recognized multicultural, music program that can be tailored for students of any age. The oral history and music instruction is designed to strengthen literacy while focusing on the blues and the discipline that it demands.

Jones, a professor at Columbia College in Chicago, directs what is believed to be America's first college-based blues ensemble. His hands have been photographed by National Geographic magazine. He was a presenter for the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Summer Teacher Institute, and he is scheduled to be featured next year on the Travel Channel's Wright Across America program.

Jones's "I Was There When the Blues Was Red Hot," has become a noted resource book on the status of black music in America.

The Blues Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit umbrella organization for a worldwide network of 165 affiliated Blues societies and has individual memberships around the globe.

For more details or free Blues Kids of America information, call (312) 541-0200.

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Source: The Blues Foundation

CONTACT: Media, Charisse Witherspoon, +1-312-541-0200,
charissew@witherspoonmarketing.com, for The Blues Foundation

Web site:

http://www.witherspoonmarketing.com/

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