[citation needed] As a martial artist, which he has been a practitioner of since 1971, he has specialized in the Chinese internal kung fu systems of taijiquan, bagua-zhang, xingyi-quan, and qigong.
[citation needed] Despite his prodigious output of creative activities, he has worked in virtual obscurity, and in order to survive, has been forced to work in such sundry noble, yet tangential professions as a laborer on a Ford Motor Co. door assembly line, a non-ferrous metal sorter/metallurgist, truck loader, warehouse laborer, traveling salesman, restaurant/nightclub manager, music and art teacher, wooden playground designer and manufacturer, home inspector and environmental testing consultant, the last of which he still is active in.
[2] Joseph Jones' two sons (Mark's father and uncle) were born in Newark, NJ and moved at an early age to Cleveland where they grew up, went into business together, and started families of their own.
He took a few piano lessons at jazz legend Bill DeArango's studio, and then in 1969, he and guitarist pal Darryl Berk formed the Mo Schwartz Blues Band which also included Mike Washington on vocals, Alan Silver on guitar, Harlan Perry on bass and Tom Pharo on drums.
[7] In 1970, Jones, while still 17 years old, completed a thesis on a history of the blues – a scholarly recorded 4-hour lecture filled with copious musical examples, including two original works in which he overdubbed himself playing numerous instruments.
Jones was also able to travel to the Soviet Union with a group led by KSU president Glenn A. Olds,[9] and spend time living in the jungles of rural Jamaica.
[10] During this period, after being exposed to the music of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Oscar Peterson, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Cecil Taylor, he caught the jazz bug and began teaching himself how to play jazz piano and studying Indian ragas and other world musics, as well as deepening his skills on guitar.
[citation needed] In 1973, he formed the Cleveland Art Ensemble with himself on Fender Rhodes piano and composition, Rod Wilson on trumpet, Roy Minoff on guitar, Bruce Green on bass and Hank Levine on drums, which performed at his senior thesis art show, and included the Jones original extended form composition, "African Sketches".
In the mid seventies, after having back-packed and hitch-hiked throughout Europe with his cousin Gary, especially taking in the art in the great European museums,[16] Jones moved to Youngstown, Ohio where he studied jazz and classical piano with local legend Sidney Jireck, and composition, harmony and counterpoint with Daniel Altsmann.
[19][20][21][22] He also performed with acts that headlined there such as The Drifters, and hired local jazz artists who went on to much later international success, such as Ralph and Dave Lalama, Glenn Wilson and James Weidman to play on a weekly basis, despite the non-commercial financial risk.
Jones moved to New York in 1977 and studied bebop piano with Walter Bishop Jr., and began showing his paintings in several Soho galleries,[23] including the M. Elson Gallery, which provided live, recorded concerts under the name of "Axis in Soho", and Jones' paintings served as a backdrop for musicians such as Sun Ra,[24] Paul McCandless and Paul Bley.
[citation needed] For economic reasons, Jones was forced to move back to Cleveland in 1978, and took a sales position in his family's scrap metal recycling business.
He held a jazz workshop at his home in Lyndhurst, Ohio with his roommate, bassist Jeff Stewart, in which many musicians came by to perform works by Jones as well as by Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker.
[33] On June 19 of that year, (his birthday), he gave a solo concert called "Inner Odyssey" at Spaces, a performing arts venue in downtown Cleveland's Playhouse Square.
Having no carpentry experience in his life, he started the business by buying tools, wood and newspaper adds with his credit card, building parts in his driveway, and in roughly 2 years, after having moved into a commercial space and hired employees, was doing a quarter of a million dollars in sales.
They gave a few concerts in the New York area[41] and eventually disbanded, although Mark occasionally performed duets of standards with various bass players in venues around Westchester.
[citation needed] They gave several performances, and recorded 3 Jones compositions in NYC with violin virtuoso Rob Thomas and percussionist Steve Samuels.
[62] In 2009, he assembled a third version of the group "Sound Sculpture" with Rob Thomas once again on violin, Ken Filiano on bass, Jay Rosen on drums and Joe Cruz on percussion, and performed at the world-famous Iridium Jazz Club in New York City.
[67] Also being released in spring of 2012 is the CD, “Memories of the Future,” recently discovered virtuoso solo piano works originally recorded in 1981 and 1985 in Cleveland and New York.
He intends to expand his involvement in teaching these arts in order to both keep the insights and achievements of past masters alive, and to help others attain good physical and mental health as well as quality, effective self-defense abilities.