While she loved the instrument, JaVonne Jones didn’t like being limited to only playing certain styles of music on it.
“I got tired of playing Beethoven and Vivaldi. I wanted to play something that resonated with me,” said Jones, who joins with jazz guitarist Willie Soul on Oct. 12 for Soulful Strings of Hope: A Night of Jazz & R&B – In the Key of Pink in Augusta. For ticket info, go here.
Jones started playing violin in the fourth grade through Richmond County’s strings program. A graduate of John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Alabama A&M and now is an orchestra teacher in the school district.
As a teen, she started experimenting with other types of music on the violin. She grew up in the church, so she found herself translating that style of music onto the violin first. She’s expanded that concept with other types of music and artists.
Hearing the songs of Michael Jackson or Stevie Wonder played on a violin might seem unusual to some, but Jones uses their music to show the violin is more than Beethoven and Vivaldi and can connect people to the instrument in a way they can enjoy.
“Because it is an instrument created to play baroque, classical and romantic styles of music, a lot of people don’t picture that with my contemporary style. There’s so much music out there that resonates with people,” she said.
Sunday’s concert will begin with a cocktail hour at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Columbia County Library followed by the main event which features “jazz with a twist” in the Hardin Auditorium.
Jones said the performance will benefit the Miracle Mile Walk and the Piedmont Foundation’s efforts to assist women in receiving mammograms to detect breast cancer.
The 25th anniversary walk is scheduled for Oct. 18.
Jones will perform in honor of her college roommate who was diagnosed with breast cancer in her early 30s. She’s been in remission for several years – thanks to early detection, Jones said. And Jones hopes she’ll be in attendance Sunday.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
