Father/daugther duo make music
Gordon Jackson l The Brunswick News
WOODBINE — Crystal Jones grew up listening to her father play saxophone, so it was no surprise when she decided she wanted to play the instrument.
It didn’t take long for her father, Reginald Jones, to realize his daughter had inherited his talent. He had played in bands much of his life, wrote original music and loved performing before an audience.
“I made a living at it 10 years,” he said.
She learned to play by ear before she learned to read music when she enrolled in band classes in school.
The first time Crystal and her father performed together before an audience, she was in middle school. He accompanied her on piano while she played saxophone.
“It just kinda happened,” he said. “I think God orchestrated it.”
Crystal, 24, was diagnosed with spina bifida at birth and has struggled with health problems most of her life, including 30 surgeries and a leg amputation.
“She’s so inspirational what she’s gone through,” Reginald Jones said.
Her favorite gig was aboard a Disney cruise where she and her father performed. The cruise and performance were arranged through the Make a Wish Foundation.
“It was fun,” she said. “I wanted to play on the cruise.”
Despite the generation gap, Reginald Jones said he and his daughter rarely disagree on song selections.
“She grew up listening to what I played,” he said.
They have been performing together as a father/daughter act for the past decade and they have no plans on stopping.
Crystal, a recent graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business from the College of Coastal Georgia, is considered an inspiration, earning recent recognition from the city of Brunswick and Glynn County for community service.
The duo is trying to form a full band with a long-term goal of making it a full-time profession. Crystal has just recorded a new CD called “Never Give Up” that will be released in coming weeks.
“A full band will give us the liberty to ad-lib and not be so structured,” he said. “She always plays better with a live group.”
Music is one of the most powerful forces on earth and it gave his daughter the determination to succeed, he said.
“The goal is to become national recording artists and make a good living at it,” he said. “We want to inspire people to go after their dreams. We love to play music.”