“James is a very talented man” - Eamonn Holmes OBE

“One of these days, I’ll be the one supporting him!” - Dave Swarbrick

“We just sat there and cried because he was so amazing” - Chris Needs MBE

“Wonderful, so much soul” - Marcella Detroit

How far would you walk to record a music video?

When he was an eleven year old pop violinist, James Jones played his first solo concert to an audience of five thousand when inited by the National Symphony Orchestra Of London to play at Cardiff International Arena. Performing as a soloist on the BBC Proms In The Park series and supporting folk legend, Dave Swarbrick on his tour at the age of fifteen.

At the start of this year, the now 23-year-old Welsh jazz-infused rock and pop multi-
instrumentalist was selected as one of six artists to
receive funding from LAB7, a fund for young and upcoming music
artists to work towards a project. James opted to use
his funding to record and produce a jazz-fusion EP
incorporating jazz violin solos and flamenco guitar into
original rock and pop songs.

James also decided to shoot a spontaneous music
video to one of his songs, Escape The City but neither
he or the director of the video had a plan for the
video. They started filming near James’ flat in Risca,
Caerphilly in Wales and just started walking and filming along
the way. The song is about finding your own way and
leaving somewhere you’ve been for a long time in
pursuit of your dreams. In James’ words, “At the time I
was writing the song, I was worried about playing
music in my house because my neighbors often
complained and would bang the ceiling whenever I
tried to play the violin so I just felt as if I needed to go
somewhere else to pursue my passion, what I felt I
should be doing. Just needed the confidence to leave
and pursue my goals”. James and the director, Nathan Misra from SilkCrayon in Cardiff
kept walking until reaching a reservoir in Brecon, over
30 miles away from where they started walking in Risca
earlier that day at the start of the video.

After finishing the filming, James had a notification to
say he had been accepted as a finalist in the UK-China
International Music Festival on the ukulele which he was later awarded a gold medal, winning his category of over 23s.

His next single, Easy will be coming out very soon featuring energetic ukulele and violin solos.