Mimi Jones

Mimi Jones
Jones in 2025
Jones in 2025
Background information
Born
Miriam Sullivan

(1972-03-25) March 25, 1972 (age 54)
OriginNew York City, U.S.
GenreJazz
Occupations
  • Musician
  • composer
  • bandleader
  • music educator
Instruments
Years active1990s–present
LabelHot Tone Music
Websitemimijonesmusic.com

Mimi Jones (born March 25, 1972, in New York City) is an American jazz bassist, vocalist, composer, bandleader, educator, and founder of the record label Hot Tone Music.

Early life

Mimi Jones was born Miriam Sullivan in New York City and was raised in the Bronx. She attended the Harlem School of the Arts and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. She studied with Linda McKnight and attended the Jazz Mobile Workshop. There, she studied with bassist Lisle Atkinson, who became her mentor.

She later received a full scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music conservatory in New York, where she attended workshops by Charles Davis, Barry Haris, Yusef Latif, Max Roach, and other prominent jazz figures, and later graduated from the conservatory.

Career

For over two decades, Jones has worked as a sidewoman and as leader, with three CDs on her own record label, Hot Tone Music. Her music incorporated a range of genres, with a foundation in jazz.[citation needed]

She has toured throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean, and is recognized as a U.S. Jazz Ambassador. As a sidewoman, she has performed with Kenny Barron, Frank Ocean, Dianne Reeves, Tia Fuller, Ingrid Jensen, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Marc Cary, Toshi Reagon, Rachel Z, Sean Jones, Ravi Coltrane, and Terri Lyne Carrington's Grammy-winning Mosaic Project.[citation needed]

Alongside ArcoIris Sandoval, Jones has also served as co-director of the D.O.M.E. Experience, a multimedia project "created to inspire its audience to become aware of environmental and social issues, within the community and globally, through choreography, composition, and cinematography."

Discography

As leader/co-leader

With Allegra Levy, Carmen Staaf, and Allison Miller

References

  1. ↑ "Full Bio – Mimi Jones". MimiJonesMusic.com. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  2. ↑ Jarenwattananon, Patrick (February 9, 2014). "'When the Bus for the Record Label Comes By': Behind Hot Tone Music". NPR Music. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  3. ↑ Murph, John (April 25, 2014). "Mimi Jones: True Moments". JazzTimes. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Mimi Jones Jazzes up More than Rhythm: A Black Music Series". Columbia Museum of Art. April 19, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2026.