Oklahoma pianist set for Jazz Lab show
Holly Jones strives to deliver physical and spiritual comfort to people through her fingers and her creative talent.
During workdays she’s a physical therapist, using her hands to ease the bodily tensions and pains that are troubling her clients. At home, she spends a great deal of her time moving her fingers across the 92 keys of her Bosendorfer grand piano, composing music intended to achieve the same soothing effects in people —emotionally.
But Jones is hard-put to categorize the sound she creates, which can be heard in solo performances of 12 of her latest compositions on her recently released sophomore album, “Storyteller.”
“I would classify it as easy listening,” she said. “Golly, that’s a tough one. It’s tough to classify it because there is a classical influence. I’m a classically trained pianist. So, I would say it could even be considered new age. But I think it just is good acoustic piano, and we’re getting orchestrations done. This is huge.”
Jones was referring to a trip she would be taking to Prague shortly after this interview took place, to see the Czech Philharmonic record orchestrations of her music.
“That’s a door that’s opened. And those orchestrations are mesmerizing. I just heard the mock-ups, but, you know, when the symphony records them, that will be an incredible experience. So we’ll have an orchestrated version available soon, and then I will take that and pitch it to film.”
Yes, she said film. Jones does not aspire to stardom as a concert pianist. She doesn’t even feel entirely comfortable performing in front of an audience, although she will do just that at 7 p.m. Thursday at the University of Central Oklahoma Jazz Lab.
“That’s why I want my music to be in film. I don’t care to be the performer. It’s just a natural progression. We seem to find what we like, and it kind of works out for us. So that would be my ultimate goal, is to have my music used in an instrumental capacity, you know? And if I had to be really honest I would say film, because my music feels like theme music to me. Why not shoot for the stars?”
‘It’s healing’
Jones, 52, who lives in central Oklahoma with her husband, always has had music in her life. Her mother, having earned a master’s degree in piano performance from Indiana University, retired as church organist in Kentucky after 50 years. Jones, along with her siblings, started learning violin at age 3.
Her earliest influences: “Definitely, Bach would be the main one. I always loved Bach as a child, I think because all of his compositions would work out mathematically. And I do like Debussy. I would say that’s another one because I like also the abstract.”
Surprisingly, Jones chose to major in health care at Indiana University instead of music because she didn’t relish spending eight hours a day in a practice hall — although her classical training included private piano lessons with pianist and maestro conductor Leon Gregorian, as well as classical piano and composition studies at I.U.
“I really didn’t know a lot about physical therapy, but there’s a lot of overlap in art,” Jones said. “And so the manual therapy has helped me become more mature in my music. … Basically what I do in P.T. is I’m working on people all day long with my hands. That’s all I do. It’s all manual therapy, and so basically I think that that’s my roundabout spiritual path to help me blend into people, blend into music.
“And as I’ve matured, now lots of doors have been opening for me. So, it’s not that story where kids, they go off to Nashville or whatever, or LA. I’m not that story. Things are happening, and it’s just really, really a lot of fun. And there’s no pressure because I have a business and a private practice. I’m funding it all. It’s really the perfect time.”
Although she considers her music well-suited as mood-setting background sound, she feels her sonic shadings have a way of seeping into the listener’s consciousness.
“It’s a backdoor kind of thing. Here’s what happens, and people say this to me all the time. They have it on, but it draws them in and they start listening to it. And that’s what I like. And that’s the ultimate. It might start as background, but it’s not, like, in your face. You have to appreciate kind of letting yourself get quiet to enjoy it.
“I believe that it brings them to a pure place. … This is a God-given thing. I can’t take credit for it. But I think what I get to do, what comes through me is the complicity of the purity, and so people, they feel innocent when they hear it. And that is what it should do, it should ring that tuning fork in that no matter what, you’re innocent, it’s good and it’s healing.”
On Thursday, Jones will be playing solo, without accompanists, and sharing stories behind the selections she will be performing. “I’m a high introvert, but I know that this is going to be a fabulous concert. I can become that (live performing) person, and I’ve done it before. And I know it’s about sharing your gift, and I don’t want to sound like I’m not confident. That’s not it. I think it’s going to be a very healing event. I think just to have the vibrations of the music and short stories and a nice atmosphere, I think it’s going to be really, really nice.”