It is with great sadness to report the untimely passing of David Jones, one of the greatest soprano cornet players of his time. He passed away on Friday 22nd June 2012.
Distinguished career
David moved to Northamptonshire to occupy the soprano cornet position with the famous G.U.S (Footwear) band in 1967, a position he held for 23 years and only the third soprano player since the inception of the band in 1933. During his time the band won the World Championship (still uncontested), The British Open, BBC Band of the Year, twice, Wills Euro championships, twice, Best of Brass Champions twice and many other major awards.
The band also had a rolling contract to record with EMI at their Abbey Road studios and has participated in over 20 commercial recordings, at least 50 live
BBC recordings for radio and several TV shows. David was also a member of Harry Mortimer’s All Stars and Men of Brass. During his tenure, he also played with all the top bands of this era.
Conducting
Since retiring from playing David has been involved with conducting bands of all levels with a great deal of success. He was appointed Musical Director of Towcester Studio Band in February 2010 where he quickly inspired the players and trained the band to produce some of the best performances in concerts and competitions in recent years leading the band for only a short period in its 102 year history, but having a profound effect on all its members.
In Tribute
The band played a concert on Saturday 23 June 2012, a concert David was to direct and conduct. In memory, some emotional words from the band and conductor Bob Stradling, who knew David very well, were spoken before the concert. In tribute, the band appropriately played the exact music set David had put together earlier in the week along with the hymn Abide with Me (Eventide) requested by his son Tim in memory of his Father. Being a proud Cornishman, David made sure the music contained a Cornish element to the set and the band really played from the heart, David would be very proud.
Our thoughts are now with his Wife, family and friends