“Within days of acquiring my Steinway Model B in 1971, I had written the song “No Quarter”. My wonderful piano has been my constant and inspiring companion ever since.”

JOHN PAUL JONES

 

Steinway Artist John Paul Jones, live from Big Ears Festival, talks about his influences, his sound, his process and his myriad music projects beyond Led Zeppelin.

Biography

John Paul Jones is one of the most accomplished and respected musicians in the world of music today. As a prolific session musician in the 1960s, he played on or arranged innumerable recordings for artists such as Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, and Cat Stevens. He was a founding member of Led Zeppelin.

Following his unparalleled career with Led Zeppelin, John began to work as a performer, arranger and producer with a diverse range of artists such as Diamanda Galas, REM, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, and La Fura dels Baus. His debut solo album, Zooma, was released in September 1999, followed by The Thunderthief in 2001.

Since 2004, his sonic explorations have also led him to perform as part of John Cage’s Music Circus at the Barbican under the direction of Stephen Montague, touring with bluegrass trio Nickel Creek, and working as co-composer and performer for Merce Cunningham’s Nearly Ninety which was performed with Sonic Youth and Takehisa Kosugi in New York, London and Madrid.

In 2009 John formed a group called Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and Joshua Homme, releasing a universally acclaimed album and touring the world to sold-out venues. In 2011, John appeared and performed in Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

More recently, John’s wide and varied career in music continued as he toured the United States with Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch as part of the 'Dave Rawlings Machine’, as well as releasing the debut Minibus Pimps album Cloud to Ground.

John has also made several guest appearances with acclaimed Norwegian avant-garde group Supersilent in various parts of the world.

More recently, John has also worked and performed several times with Magnus Lindberg and Anssi Karttunen as part of their improvisational trio ‘Tres Coyotes,’ appearing to sold out crowds at various contemporary classical music festivals.

In 2019, he embarked on a tour of South Korea and Japan with Anssi Karttunen (cello / electronics), again with an improvisational project entitled ‘Sons Of Chipotle,’ where he played piano and electronics.

John has recently been finalising the orchestration of his first opera, entitled The Ghost Sonata, which is based on the play written by August Strindberg.

Commissions in recent years for new classical works have included the London International Festival of Early Music and The Swaledale Festival.

John is currently composing a song cycle for Dame Sarah Connolly which has been commissioned by a number of the finest, as yet unannounced, contemporary classical music venues and ensembles in the world.