Darryl Jones is an accomplished bass guitarist, highly sought-after for his supreme skills in the jazz, blues, and rock fields. His impressive résumé includes collaborations with leading artists in all of those genres, indicating a level of professional versatility that few musicians are able to attain. Some of his career highlights include a four-year stint with jazz icon Miles Davis, membership in Sting’s band for the genre-busting The Dream of the Blue Turtles album and tour, and his current 16-year run as the touring/recording bassist for rock legends The Rolling Stones.

Recently, Darryl has taken a keen interest in Roland’s groundbreaking VB-99 V-Bass System, and he’s extremely excited by its potential to expand his musical voice with the bass and beyond. Not long ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Darryl and discuss his career, influences, and how he uses the VB-99.

How did the bass become a part of your life?

When I was in third grade, I went to a school talent show. At the end of the show, a band played, and I realized that one of my neighbors and some upperclassmen that I knew were in the band. So, I look on stage and I see these guys, and it really hit me like a shot: that’s it, that’s what I want to be doing. So, I asked this guy, Angus Thomas (my neighbor), to teach me to play the guitar. He said, “What do you want to learn how to play? The lead guitar or the bass guitar?” I didn’t know the difference; I didn’t know there was a bass that had four strings. So I asked him what he played, and he said, “The bass guitar.” I said, “That’s what I’d like to learn how to play.” That’s how I came to be a bass player.

What was the turning point where you decided to go pro?

I went to a high school with a really great music program. Right before I went to that high school, I really loved basketball, but I was about five feet tall. When I saw the basketball players on my high school team, I thought, “Well, I guess it’s going to be music.” That’s how I got really involved in the music program there.

It was a really great program; I got close to four years of professional experience, because we played a lot of different kinds of music. When I got to college, I realized I had a little bit more experience than most of the guys I was playing with [there]. But, I guess from the beginning, I always felt like music was going to be my career.

Tell us about your jazz background and playing bass for Miles Davis.

I grew up in what I like to refer to as a “two-radio family.” My dad was listening to early Miles records, Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, and stuff like that. My mom was listening more to James Brown, Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and that kind of stuff. Just hearing those two different kinds of things growing up had an influence on me even before I started playing. When I got the opportunity to play with Miles, that background was really perfect, because I knew a little bit about jazz and played jazz in high school, and of course I grew up dancing to Motown. That was kind of a mixture of what he was doing at the time.

The story behind how I got to play with Miles Davis…his nephew and I had been working in Chicago in the music scene, and we’d sometimes just sit in the car and dream about what it would be like to play with Miles. He’s a drummer; his name is Vince Wilburn. Miles was just back from a tour of Japan, and he decided to make a change in the bass department and asked Vince if he knew anybody. Vince said, “Yeah, there’s a guy in Chicago.” So they called me on the phone and said, “Miles wants to hear you play bass on the phone.”

On the phone?

Yeah. I thought he was joking, of course. When I realized he was serious, I said, “Hold on and let me go get the bass.” And he said, “No, you hold on,” and then Miles got on the phone and said, “When can you be in New York?” The next day, I was in New York and I auditioned. He asked me to play along with the band tape, a board tape of stuff the band had been doing in Japan, and he asked me to play a slow B-flat blues. I started playing it really slow, and he stopped me and said, “No, I mean really slow.” And I started playing it, and he stopped me again and he said, “No, I mean really slow.” So, that was the audition, and I got hired that afternoon.

I played with him for four years over a five-year period. I played with him for two years, and then I was lucky enough to work with Sting during that period where he had left The Police. I played with Sting for about a year, and then I was asked back to play with Miles, which was really a blessing.

Playing with Miles…it’s an education, it really is. I learned a lot about what not to play. I learned a lot about active listening, listening in a way that is not just how you listen to music when you’re in the shower, but really being present. I took some acting classes since I moved out here; being “in the moment” is what method acting technique [is about]. A lot of the experience that I got with Miles was really about being in the moment and not worrying about too many other things; just being in the moment and really listening to what’s being played.

It sounds like there was a method behind your rehearsals with that group of people.

Yeah, definitely. Miles’ rehearsals were always a little bit like “un-rehearsal.” Whatever you had found worked for the show that we were playing at the time, he would take that away from you and force you to find something new. That’s really an incredible exercise, because the material was a lot of varied kinds of things like jams over certain changes with motifs that led you to different parts of the tune. There was the blues, obviously, and later on there were songs and ballads and stuff like that. So, there was a lot of different material to try to wrap your mind around, and once you’d found a part, it was always like, “Okay, I finally found something that works over that.” And after a few weeks, [Miles] would take that away from you and say, “Don’t play that anymore.” It was really an incredible learning opportunity.

How do you think that experience contrasts with some of the other people you’ve worked with and some of your experiences since then?

From my perspective, I kind of do the same thing with everybody, but I just try to play the music. Obviously, rock and roll music, the music that I’ve been playing with The Stones these last years, is simpler. But the whole idea that I got to play with The Rolling Stones, or where my desire came from, was me listening to the Steel Wheels record and thinking to myself, “You know, how I play could work with that.” I’m a simple player. It’s not a lot of flash, not a lot of bells and whistles. I’m kind of, for lack of a better term, a “meat-and-potatoes” player. I really dig holding down the bottom, and I thought that the way that I do that could work with the Stones. Luckily, someone around there thought so, too.

How did you get hooked up with them?

A friend in Chicago called me and told me that Bill Wyman was leaving the band. I told him that there had been rumors of that for 20 years, and he said, “No, I think he’s really leaving this time.” He asked if he should get management’s phone number for me, and I said, “Yeah, I guess so!” I called the management and told them that I heard they might be looking for a bass player, and if there was a list I’d like to get on the list and I’d like to come in and play. About a year later, that’s what happened.

Have you been playing on their records, or is it more of a touring gig?

No, I have played on all of the records they’ve done since then, since November of 1993. It’s been about 16 years now.

How is the touring experience?

It’s great. They’re very good at that. They’ve got a lot of experience touring and how to do it comfortably. Great hotels…even the backstage situation with The Stones is pretty elaborate, and they take really good care of the people that work with them. It’s great.

How do you think that working with them closely has impacted your music?

Keith Richards’ [solo] records really struck me as a very interesting hybrid of rock and roll, particularly the work he did with Charley Drayton and Steve Jordan. Those are really the two guys that got me involved in playing rock and roll. I was more or less doing the electric-jazz thing before that, and hearing them play on the Talk is Cheap record is really what made me think, “That’s the rock and roll that I want to play.” Playing with them has definitely led me away from the fusion jazz stuff and into something a little more earthy, with some of the elements of blues and rock and roll.

What would you say is your number one thought when you go on stage for a performance?

I just try to play the best that I can play, in the moment, [and] make the best choices and listen carefully. I just try to play my best. That’s really helped me, because when you’re younger, you might be concerned about what certain people in the audience think. Just in the last few years, I’ve felt that I have enough experience, and I don’t think about that stuff anymore. I just try to play the best I can play and try to enjoy myself.

What else are you working on these days? Is it mostly Stones stuff, or do you have any side projects?

I’m working on some music of my own, which again references the music of my childhood. The Stones are part of that. I remember listening to “Satisfaction” on the radio when I was young, and James Brown, Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix, all of those things. So, the music I’m working on is, in a way, referential to that.

Are you working on an album?

Yeah, I’m working on an album, and hopefully I’ll be playing out in the fall.

You’re using the VB-99 V-Bass System now. Have you played Roland gear in the past, or is this your first piece?

I bought the V-Guitar System a number of years back. On my music, I’ve been recording some of the guitar, and I really fell in love with the whole idea of the COSM® thing, the sound-modeling idea. When I heard about the VB-99 system and saw one or two guys [in] YouTube clips using it, I thought that maybe it’s time for me to check into that again. I’m just starting the journey, but I’m very excited about it.

What have you discovered so far?

There are a number of sounds in the VB-99 that are really intriguing to me. It’s intriguing to expand my sound library into things that don’t really sound like bass. There’s a sound in the VB-99 called “Harmonist” that’s actually “movie score-esque.” I like the idea of being able to play those kinds of things from a bass guitar.

I’m a jazz lover, so I really love saxophone and I’m excited about some kind of saxophone-type sound that I could use as a solo voice. Trumpet, of course, would be something that would be exciting to mess around with. I’m also excited about more sophisticated ideas like triggering sequences, and even triggering picture or video. These are the things that I’m really excited about, moving in this direction of kind of a solo multimedia bass application.

When did this idea form?

I guess it’s been in the back of my mind the last few years, and with the technology now coming to the place where you can actually play something and not feel a whole lot of latency and feel that it’s sometimes tracking and sometimes not, it’s brought all of these old ideas I’ve had back to the forefront.

I would imagine that you’ve probably kept an eye on the evolution of bass technology over the years.

Definitely.

How do you think what’s available today compares to what you’ve seen in the past?

I think the VB-99 is a serious step. Even last night, I was at home and I turned off the [direct] bass part of the feed just to see if it feels natural to play some of the synth sounds. I was actually trying to find latency, and there really isn’t very much. I think things have come around to where it’s really workable now.

How are you currently integrating the VB-99 into your music? Is it more in the studio, or are you looking at stage as well?

Right now, I’m a relative newcomer to the technology, but I’m really curious about using it as a solo bass vehicle, and being able to add a whole lot more to the regular kind of “bass solo” experience. That’s what I’m trying to get involved with.

What would you want to say to up-and-coming bass players who are trying to form their voice and their place in the music business at this time?

Really experiment. Experiment with things like the VB-99 and with sounds. Do that as well as study the masters, of course. If you’re a bass player, you should be listening to James Jamerson and all of the guys from that era, because they really taught us about what electric bass is and how to play it. So, I think definitely at least a two-pronged approach: understanding the classic electric bass thing, and exploring the possibilities that modern technology is affording us now.

You can keep up with Darryl at his website: www.darryljones.com.