About Paul
SESSION DRUMMER – EARLY INFLUENCES
Paul Jones is a London based session drummer known for his versatility, solid groove and musical approach.
His personal musical taste is extremely diverse, with strong influences stemming from the late 80s rave / pop scene to 90s house scene, with a large chunk of 70s funk and 80s fusion right through to early electro / hip hop then fast forward to today’s drum and bass / electronic dance and pop scene.
A MUSICAL JOURNEY
Whilst Paul was living in Manchester, Jungle and Drum n Bass in the 90s was the solid bedrock of the underground scene which he found himself fully immersed and Manchester was also where he also scored his first major touring gig with the pop star sisters ‘Cleopatra’.
“We played at the old Wembley Stadium supporting The Spice Girls and to me, this felt like an extremely important turning point which led me to decide to relocate back to my hometown of London to concentrate on further exploring my love for work with singers and further develop the all important groove.”
VERSATILITY
As a seasoned touring and recording session drummer, Paul has had the pleasure of helping to provide that all important backbone for all manor of artists including.
Some of the artists over the past 20 years include: Jules Buckley Orchestra, Ibibio Sound Machine, Brian Jackson (Gil Scott Heron), Terry Reid, Alison Moyet, Martha High (James Brown), Kym Mazelle, Labrinth, Sigma, (x)Propaganda, Spacek, Alison Limerick, Mica Paris, Cleopatra, Leee John (Imagination), Rodney P and Boney M, Josh Milan, Tkay Maidza, Rahsaan Patterson, the incredible Bamboo Manalac from the Philippines and the late / great funk legend Don Blackman.
Paul is on tour with Ibibio Sound Machine this Summer through to Autumn and later in the year with Brian Jackson and Change. See the ‘Tour Dates‘ page for date information.
Paul is proud to play and be sponsored by
“I can say without hesitation that [Paul] is a consummate & passionate professional, never satisfied with giving anything less than his best.”
Gordon Hulbert (Chaka Khan / Russell Watson)
Portfolio
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Rodney P
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MARTHA HIGH
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Sheila Ferguson
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DON BLACKMAN
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ALISON MOYET
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Boney M
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IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE
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BAMBOO
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XPROPAGANDA
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BRIAN JACKSON
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Ona Onabule
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Cyndi Lauper
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Noel McKoy
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LABRINTH
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Mica Paris
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Mikey Graham
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Modjo
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Tyler James
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SIGMA
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JOSH MILAN
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Rahsaan Patterson
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STEVE SPACEK
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ALISON LIMERICK
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All Saints
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Leee John (Imagination)
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TKAY MAIDZA
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Loose Ends
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RAF RILEY
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ETTA BOND
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SPACEK
Videos
PAUL JONES – SESSION DRUMMER
TOUR DATES
NATASHA WATTS
UK TOUR – APRIL 2024.
JOSH MILAN
JAZZ CAFE – 4th JULY 2024.
LOVE SUPREME FESTIVAL- 6th JULY 2024.
IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE
CANADA / US SUMMER TOUR – JULY 2024.
UK / EUROPE TOUR – AUG / SEP 2024.
US SUMMER TOUR – SEP / OCT 2024.
BRIAN JACKSON
WE OUT HERE FEST, WIMBOURNE ST GILES. 17th / 18th AUG 2024 (UK/EUROPE).
CORK JAZZ FEST, CORK. 24th OCT 2024 (UK/EUROPE).
PRESS ARTICLES
BRIAN JACKSON IN WELLINGTON / NZ – GIG REVIEW.
He sits front and centre at the Rhodes, occasionally moving to the piano – just as he would when co-fronting the Midnight Band. He leads a stellar quartet. His musical director Lex Cameron (Roachford) has worked with nearly everyone (Chaka Khan, Billy Ocean, Amy Winehouse) and effortlessly switches between keys, guitar, flute and multi-octave backing vocals. Fill-in bassist Caleb Shand, from Melbourne, joined the tour at such a last minute that he had just a few days to learn this golden material. (He nailed it!) And drummer Paul Jones (Alison Moyet) might have been the best player on the stage, though it almost seems cruel to elevate one single player. That said, my god he was good. Just so precise and with the very best feel, propulsive and engaging, pulling the songs into exactly the right places, shaping them correctly.
READ FULL ARTICLE BELOW.
RHYTHM MAGAZINE INTERVIEW – PAUL JONES / SESSION DRUMMER WITH SIGMA
MUSIC RADAR ARTICLE – CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE GUIDE TO PLAYING FUNK
PATHFNDR.
REMOTE DRUM RECORDING
If you’re looking for remote drum recordings that sound and feel great to slot perfectly into your songs and compositions, you’re in the right place.
The benefits of my service mean that there’s no need to look for a separate studio or engineer and incur extra costs that your budget won’t allow for. Instead, welcome this simple and easy solution to owning great sounding live drums that could be yours in as little as 72hrs from start to finish.
Get in touch today by clicking HERE to take you directly to my remote drum recording page.
“Excellent session drummer! Good communication, grasped what the tune needed very quickly, and the performance elevated the whole track! Also the tech side was handled smoothly. Definitely recommended!”
Jukka Packalen (Finland) – Guitarist and songwriter.
“Thanks so much for your drum stems, they have transformed my tracks and made them sound so much more authentic and grooving!”
Jasper Wilkinson – Multi instrumentalist (TV Theme and commercials writer)
Lessons
DRUM LESSONS.
Paul offers the choice of 1 to 1 lessons, in person. If you’re interested to find out more, hit the Book Now button below.
Some of the key things Paul offers at his South London studio:
- Intermediate to Advanced level welcome. Some daytime slots available.
- Improve your groove! Solidify your backbeat / improve your time keeping.
- Click shy? Let’s work on that together.
- Hand / Foot development, Moeller technique.
- Suffer from confidence / low self esteem? Let’s work on that together.
All drum lessons are individually tailored to help take you to the next level.
(N.B. After school slots possible.)
DBS checked (enhanced certificate).
Masterclasses are also available on how to approach to drum triggering within today’s crossover electronic / acoustic genres using hybrid acoustic /electronic drumkits.
Also how to work with click tracks, input song material into a DAW and cover techniques to successfully combine playback and live drumming elements.
Click below to watch ACM’s and ICMP’s videos of Paul during his visits to the Academy and the Institute earlier this year.
Masterclasses
The masterclasses address Paul’s approach to the recreation of acoustic / electronic pop music, including but not exclusive to Drum & Bass, house and garage in todays live settings.
Much of the music he has been touring with for the last 7 years has seen him using a setup consisting of Roland V Drums, TM2 / TMC6 trigger units alongside his Sakae Almighty acoustic kit with an Akai MPC1000 at the heart of it all.
For bookings and more information, click on the link.
Contact
Studio address:
DRCA Business Centre
Charlotte Despard Ave
Battersea
London, SW11 5HD.
Socials
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