Bio
What the Masters Say
“Rico is one of the few original voices emerging. His musicianship and passion have forged an original voice we will joyfully be hearing more from in the future.”
— Vincent Herring, DownBeat Magazine
“Rico Jones is a fine saxophonist steeped in the Jazz tradition with eyes set on the future”
— Victor Lewis
“Rico’s beautiful saxophone sound, his incredible energy and his improvisational brilliance consistently engage audiences and his peers, alike.”
— Brad Goode
“Wonderful player, wonderful musician”
— George Coleman
“Truly a young brilliant tenor player of today. Sensitive, and intelligent, he knows the language and plays from the heart.”
— Charles McPherson
“Rico Jones is a rapidly ascending and musically arresting artist! In the short time that I’ve played with him he has impressed me with his knowledge of music and his poise as a leader. Rico is amazing!
— Harold Summey
RICO JONES BIOGRAPHY
Rico Jones is a visionary saxophonist, composer, and bandleader whose debut album BloodLines (Giant Step Arts, 2025) has firmly established him as a rising force in modern jazz. Awarded ★★★★ by DownBeat Magazine and named to their prestigious Best Albums of 2025 list, BloodLines places Jones in the company of icons and contemporaries alike, including Andrew Hill, Horace Silver, Pharoah Sanders, Benny Golson, Chick Corea and B.B. King, as well as Christian McBride, Ambrose Akinmusire, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade and Johnathan Blake. Critic Howard Mandel wrote, “Jones and company seek meaning if not transcendence in improvising music… Jones joins Immanuel Wilkins and Joel Ross as current leaders with roots in the Black church, famously a source for Coltrane and many others.”
Described as “indispensable” by Paris Move (France), the album features a spiritually charged suite of original compositions and a multigenerational ensemble of Max Light (guitar), Joe Martin (bass), and Nasheet Waits (drums). Released by Giant Step Arts, a nonprofit label founded by legendary photographer and documentarian Jimmy Katz, BloodLines has received widespread acclaim across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, with featured reviews in DownBeat Magazine, The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Life (Japan), Jazz-Fun (Germany), UK Vibe, Rockerilla (Italy), All About Jazz, Jazz Podium, Jazz and Culture, and more.
In 2025, Jones made his debut at the Blue Note NYC as a featured guest with Esperanza Spalding. He previously headlined the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center, performing with Spalding and the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band after a weeklong residency. His big band composition Earth premiered with the ensemble in 2022, with subsequent works performed during their 2023 Alaska tour.
Internationally, Jones toured Ecuador in 2023 with the Joan Sanchez Quartet and made his European debut at Sunset Sunside (Paris) in 2019. His original compositions have been recorded by Will Lyle, David Kikoski, Lucas Pino, and Billy Drummond.
As a sideman, Jones has worked with artists such as the Mingus Big Band, Jeff “Tain” Watts, David Kikoski, Philip Harper, Bobby Watson, Sylvia Cuenca, Essiet Essiet, Veronica Swift, Michelle Coltrane, Cyrus Chestnut, Craig Haynes, Allan Harris, Papo Vázquez, and many others. As a leader or featured soloist, he has collaborated with Victor Lewis, Vincent Herring, Victor Jones, Dezron Douglas, Ari Hoenig, Eric Harland, Jonathan Blake, Lage Lund, and Michael Ode.
He has also been invited as a special guest in concerts with Peter Washington, Joe Farnsworth, Sullivan Fortner, and Jonathan Kreisberg. In large ensemble contexts, he has appeared with Terence Blanchard, Ingrid Jensen, Javon Jackson, Bobby Sanabria, and Joe Lovano.
Jones holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, both on full scholarship, where he studied with Buster Williams, Miguel Zenón, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo O’Farrill, Rich Perry, Dayna Stephens, and Donny McCaslin. He is also a mentee of living legends including George Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Bennie Maupin, Charles McPherson, Bobby Watson, and Vincent Herring. Upon graduation, he received the William H. Borden Award for Outstanding Achievement in Jazz.
Early honors include six DownBeat Student Awards, the Vandoren Emerging Artist Award, the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Award, and selection for elite programs such as Betty Carter Jazz Ahead, Jazz Band of America, and the JAS Aspen Workshop with Christian McBride. At the Music For All Festival, he premiered a big band work written for him by Todd Bashore.
During the pandemic, Jones organized more than 200 free public concerts at Sloan Lake in Denver, drawing hundreds of listeners weekly and earning coverage from PBS and other national outlets. In 2021, his band CounterCurrent performed at both the Telluride Jazz Festival and Red Rocks Amphitheatre, sharing stages with Robert Glasper and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
A native of Colorado, Jones’s musical lineage is rooted in the Black American tradition. He began playing saxophone in the gospel band at Denver’s Cure d’Ars Church at age 13, developing a deep spiritual connection that remains central to his voice. He started performing with college ensembles as a teen and by his early 20s had worked with a vast spectrum of jazz elders and innovators.
Now based in Harlem’s historic Sugar Hill, Rico Jones continues to compose, perform, teach, and evolve his sound. His music bridges ancestral memory and modern exploration, drawing from sacred traditions while carving new paths into the future of improvised music.