Polo Jones
Polo Jones
Polo Jones is an American musician, bassist, songwriter, producer, sound engineer, and musical director based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is known for being the musical director for Zucchero Fornaciari and for working with a number of notable musicians. [undefined]
A versatile musician, Polo Jones plays the bass synthesizer, guitar, drums, and keyboards. He is also a has delved into several genres, including rock, funk, jazz, and blues. [undefined] Polo has worked on a number of projects, including language tapes and movie soundtracks. [undefined]
He is currently the Executive Music Producer for The Lighthouse Media Group.
Biography
Early Life
Polo Jones playing at the Roman Coliseum with Zucchero
Polo Jones demonstrates how to triplet slap on the bass guitar
Jones grew up in Oakland, California. [undefined] Coming from a musical family, Polo's father, Paul Sr., played the saxophone and his mother, Inez, was a pianist and singer. [undefined] Influenced by his family's musical talents, Polo first started playing the bass guitar at 10 years old.
A huge musical influence to Polo was the Scottish musician Jack Bruce. [undefined]
After playing with his parents at an early age, a band he wanted to join said they would bring him on if he started playing the instrument.
When he was 14 years old, Polo was asked to tour with Blues musician John Lee Hooker. [undefined] In the 1970's, Polo would then play in the band Hot Chocolate with Larry Graham where he learned slap-style bass. [undefined] He would spend the decade touring with bands before embarking on a solo career in the 1980's. [undefined]
Career
Music
Polo Jones, Zucchero & Eric Clapton - A Wonderful World
In 1985, Polo received a call from producer/guitarist Corrado Rustici to join a San Francisco bay area fusion pop band called Holiday of Hands. [undefined] He would go on to record multiple albums in Europe and achieve numerous multi-platinum recordings. [undefined]
Polo has worked extensively with Italian musician Zucchero, serving as both his bass player and Musical Director. [undefined] Together, they can be heard on more than nine multi-platinum certified and Grammy award-winning recordings. [undefined] Their most successful song together was with Whitney Houston's song “I'm Every Woman” from her movie The Bodyguard , which is a 25x platinum certified album. [undefined]
In 1989, he toured alongside Eric Clapton in Europe. [undefined]
In the early 1990's, Jones played alongside Andrea Bocelli and helped launch his career. [undefined] Jones would spend the better part of the 90's touring Europe in clubs and stadiums throughout the continent. [undefined] Some of the most notable venues Polo has played in includes the Kremlin and the Roman Coliseum. [undefined]
Polo has worked with a number of artists including Carlos Santana, Ray Charles, Sting, Luciano Pavarotti, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Jeff Beck, Bono, Joe Cocker, Brian May, Narada Michael Walden, Dolores O'Riordan, and others.
He has been affiliated with The Doobie Brothers, Randy Jackson, Cheb Mami, Corrado Rustici, Peter Vettese, Michael Shrieve, Vinnie Colaiuta, Neil Schon, Clarence Clemons, Nils Lofgren, Randy Crawford, Duran Duran, Jermaine Jackson, Pia Zadora, Levon Helm, Adrian Legg, Bill Withers, Greg Phillinganes, Solomon Burke, David Garibaldi, Tower of Power, Memphis Horns, Michael Kamen, Steve Smith, Chuck Rainey, Sista Monica Parker, and many more. [undefined]
Lighthouse Media Group
In 2017, Polo Jones joined Lighthouse Media Group, an educational aim is to raise awareness, hope, and positive social change using uplifting multi-media platforms.
He currently serves as an Executive Music Producer and a Managing Partner.