Courtney Jones

Performance, pedagogy and philosophy come together for this inspiring FAU music professor

Written by JOHN THOMASON

Whether it’s performing onstage or relaxing in his plant-filled office, trumpeter

Courtney Jones’ joie de vivre is infectious.

I witnessed him in both modes, first at a January fundraiser for Florida’s National Society of Arts and Letters. Clad in a three-piece suit and colorful socks, Jones led a quartet through Gershwin standards and bossa nova favorites from guitar god Antonio Carlos Jobim, his brows arched, his eyes as big as the notes he was playing.

In between compositions, he shared his thoughts on the power of music to heal the world—a lofty sentiment he would echo a couple of weeks later at FAU, where he has served as assistant professor of trumpet and artistic director of the university’s jazz and chamber ensembles since 2017. Educated in the contemporary classical canon, the Georgia native has enjoyed a borderless career, scoring music for series such as “Glee” and “Criminal Minds” and collaborating with artists as diverse as Rihanna, Boy George and trailblazing jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell.

From his office near FAU’s University Theatre, Jones discussed his wide-ranging work and his belief that,“for me, there is no genre. It’s style. Do you feel the beat on 1 and 3, or 2 and 4?”

Did you know early on that music would be your passion?

Not necessarily. ... I never thought it was going to be a career, because I thought that everyone was able to do this. Later on, my teacher at Columbus State helped me figure [it] out.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the differentiation between passion and gift. I’m passionate about cooking.

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I’m passionate about botany. But I don’t have a restaurant, and I’m not opening a nursery. A gift, however, is music, and everything that is under that awning. ...

If you can wake up in the morning and think about nothing but that one thing, that is your gift. And that’s what you should be doing.

You’ve played with a lot of legends. What did you pick up from working with them that you take into your own practice?

Empathy. Gratitude. I knew those words; I didn’t understand them until I got older.

You’re already in the industry; you’ve done “Glee” and “Cougar Town,” so you don’t really get star-struck. My job is to go on set at Paramount Studios. My job is to go do these pre-records, and after that, I can go have dinner and hang out. But then you sit down, you walk in, your name is on a long list of names, and there’s BB King and Dee Dee Bridgewater and Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the “Mission: Impossible” theme, and then all of a sudden Stevie Wonder bumps into you, and he says, ‘oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.’ Oh, he’s blind, he just made a joke! I’m surrounded by all these people. There’s love, there’s no ego. … There is a level of respect that’s beautiful.

Can you speak about the versatility of the trumpet?

[It goes] from the band hall to the concert hall, from the solo setting to the chamber setting … and if you limit yourself to one thing, then you’re missing out on what the divine has provided for you. … I played at the beginning of a metal band’s show. We came in, and we played this piccolo fanfare, then they went into this thrash metal. And it paid well. The best 30 seconds I ever had!

You played Carnegie Hall for the first time last year. What was that like?

Invigorating. Astonishing. It was a check off the bucket list. We sold out our performance with an orchestra and musicians who happen to be BIPOC—Black, indigenous, and people of color. And these are all people that are in the upper echelon of their careers, and we came together to perform in this space that was built [to] bring people together. It wasn’t built for one class of people. It was built for music, and music has no color, music has no boundary. And to be in this place, it was just breathtaking.

Do you get nerves when you walk onto a stage like that?

Always. I’m nervous right now. I’m an extroverted introvert. And I use those nerves, even when I perform, as fuel—as adrenaline, to help block that energy. Because if you’re nervous, that means you care. Because you don’t want to mess up.

We have this idea that practice makes perfect. That’s incorrect. Practice makes improvements. It makes progress. Because we are human, and it’s OK to make a mistake. … You never really master your instrument. You’re always learning your craft.

Now-May 14:

“Million Dollar Quartet” at the Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton; various show times; $79-$99; 561/9952333, thewick.org. The hit rock ‘n’ roll jukebox musical, inspired by the fabled 1956 Sun Records jam session between Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, features 23 of their iconic hits performed in an atmosphere of competition and collaboration.

Now-May 21:

Whitfield Lovell: “Passages” at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton; $12-$16 museum admission; 561/392-2500, bocamuseum. org. “Passages” marks the most comprehensive survey yet of this contemporary artist, including drawings on pencil, oil stick, charcoal or crayon, often paired with found objects salvaged and manipulated from flea markets and antique shops. His art addresses historical brutalities toward African-Americans through the prisms of identity and memory.

Now-June 4:

2022 Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards at Society of the Four Arts, 102 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach; $10; 561/655-7226, fourarts. org. In this revealing exhibition, image-makers from around the world traveled throughout Africa to capture wildlife in its natural habitat and amid its relationship with humans, competing in categories such as “Coexistence & Conflict,” “African Wildlife at Risk” and “Fragile Wilderness.”

May 6:

Patrick Lamb at Funky Biscuit, 303 S.E. Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton; 6 and 9 p.m.; $30-$45; 561/395-2929, funkybiscuit. com. One of the youngest people to be inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, philanthropist and saxophonist Lamb has enjoyed a versatile career as both sideman and composer, performing with Smokey Robinson, Gino Vanelli and Bobby Caldwell and traversing jazz, blues and pop idioms with ease.

May 7:

Delray String Quartet at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Suite 3698, Delray Beach; 3 p.m.; 561/808-5084, delraystringquartet.com. In its final program of the 2022/2023 season, the renowned string quartet will perform Haydn’s Fifth Quartet, Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 95, Mendelssohn’s Quartet Op. 12 and “Romanian Folk Dances” by Béla Bartok.

May 12:

For King and Country at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansburys Way, West Palm Beach; 7 p.m.; $47 and up; 561/795-8883, westpalmbeachamphitheatre.com. Performing under the moniker For King and Country, Australian-born and Nashville-raised brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone have become one of the nation’s leading Christian pop acts, marrying lyrics of faith and worship to a secular sonic palette whose influences range from U2 and the Beatles to epic film scores.

Now-June 11:

“New York Vanguard: Promised Gifts from Stephen and Madeline Anbinder” at Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach; $15-$18 museum admission; 561/832-5196, norton.org. The 10 cutting-edge artists featured in this exhibition—including Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler and Adolph Gottlieb—worked in New York in the mid-20th century, forming a new international vanguard to compete with Paris’ post-WWII dominance.

Now-July 16:

“At the Dawn of a New Age: Early 20th Century Modernism” at Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach; $15$18 museum admission; 561/832-5196, norton.org. This exhibition draws from the first 30 years of the 1900s—a watershed period in American art, as traditional notions of realism in painting and sculpture gave way to an increasing embrace of experimentation and abstraction of color, form and subject matter.

May 4:

Mastodon and Gojira at Sunset Cove Amphitheater, 20405 Amphitheater Circle, Boca Raton; 6:30 p.m.; $44.50-$60; axs.com/events. Among the most acclaimed metal bands of the 21st century, Grammy winners Mastodon combine crushing guitar riffs with a literary lyricism and psychedelic leanings. French heavy metal act Gojira, which also takes a progressive approach to the genre, co-headlines; the opening act is Lorna Shore.

May 5-14:

“Blue, a Rhapsody in Blubber” at Theatre Lab at FAU, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton; 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 3 p.m. Sun.; $25; 561/297-6124, fauevents.com. In this solo theatrical experience by Lynn McNutt, the actor/playwright portrays three characters with more in common than meets the eye: Old Man, Blue Whale and Middle Aged Woman, all of whom try to forge connections with past loved ones through various means of communication.

May 12-14:

Tiffany Haddish at Palm Beach Improv, 550 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach; 7 and 9:45 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun.; $40-$50; 561/8331812, palmbeachimprov.

com. One of Time ’s 100 most influential people of 2018, comic actor Haddish is a multiplatform powerhouse who has won a Grammy and Emmy and found success everywhere from big-screen comedies to cutting-edge live-action and animated series. She explores new material in this rare, intimate club gig.

May 12-27:

“Disenchanted” at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; various show times; $55-$65; 561/832-7469, kravis.org.

Fans of “Into the Woods” may appreciate this similarly revisionist interpretation of the Grimm fairy tales-turned-Disney-products. A hit off-Broadway, the musical, mounted by MNM Productions, features heroines from “Snow White” and “Cinderella” as they shed their tiaras and share their truth.

May 16-21:

“Legally Blonde: The Musical” at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; various show times; $31-$104; 561/832-7469, kravis.org. On tour for the first time since its 2007 Broadway debut, this musical adaptation of the comedy film follows sorority sister Elle Woods, teacup Chihuahua in tow, as she defies the judicial world—and her hair color—by excelling in male-dominated Harvard Law School.

May 19-June 4:

“The Producers” at Willow Theatre at Sugar Sand Park, 300 S. Military Trail, Boca Raton; various show times; $35; 561/347-3948, sugarsandpark.org. Local company Entr’Acte Theatrix returns with its production of the cherished Mel Brooks musical about a down-in-the-dumps Broadway producer and his accountant colleague, whose scheme to finance a deliberately unsuccessful musical about Hitler becomes an unexpected success.

May 24:

Art & Jazz on the Avenue in downtown Delray Beach; 6 to 9:30 p.m.; free; 561/243-1077, downtowndelraybeach.com. Live and roving jazz musicians are often one of myriad attractions at this three-hour outdoor party, which also includes interactive art vendors, dancing and dining in the street, and more entertainment to be announced. See it all on Atlantic Avenue from Third Avenue to Sixth Street.

May 26:

The Four Horsemen at Boca Black Box, 8221 Glades Road, Suite 10, Boca Raton; 8 p.m.; $31.50-$41.50; 561/483-9036, bocablackbox.com. Touting themselves as the “only album-quality Metallica tribute band on the planet,” the dedicated metalheads in the Four Horsemen clearly have egos the size of Lars Ulrich’s. See if they live up to the hype with a set list pulling primarily from Metallica’s first four seminal albums.

May 26-28:

Harid Spring Performances at Countess de Hoernle Theatre, 5100 Jog Road, Boca Raton; 7:30 p.m. Friday, 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; $20-$25; 561/9988038, harid.edu. The esteemed dance conservatory will present its Spring 2023 showcase, featuring excerpts from Act II of “La Bayadère,” the pas de deux from “La Fille Mal Gardée” and the premiere of a contemporary ballet by resident choreographer Mark Godden.

June 5:

Founders’ Day at Flagler Museum, 1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach; noon to 5 p.m.; free; 561/655-2833, flaglermuseum. us. In honor of its anniversary, the historic former home of Henry Flagler opens its doors to the public at no cost, allowing visitors to tour the museum’s first floor, view its permanent collection of Gilded Age art, and hop aboard Flagler’s private railcar.

June 10:

Nikki Glaser at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 7 p.m.; $29.75$39.75; 561/832-7469, kravis. org. Comedian Glaser’s star has been on a consistent rise since her debut Netflix comedy special, “Perfect,” in 2016. Her everywoman observations on modern life have been heard across three hosted podcasts and celebrated tours like this one.

June 10:

Walker Hayes at Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton; 6:30 p.m.; $60-$141.50; 561/393-7890, mizneramp.com. Hayes takes his working-class country music seriously: After being dropped by a major label, he worked at Costco in between stints on the Hot Country charts. Fame has stuck around in the 2020s, though, with Country Stuff: the Album and hit single “Fancy Like” establishing him as a fixture in the genre. Arrive early for openers Ingrid Andress and Breland.

May 27:

Emilie-Claire Barlow at Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach; 8 p.m.; $40-$45; 561/450-6457, artsgarage.org. Celebrating the release of her 13th album this year, the two-time Juno Award-winning Canadian jazz singer will perform American Songbook standards, bossa nova favorites and pop ballads, aided by her signature warmth and humor, and backed by a five-piece band.

May 28:

The Victory Dolls at Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, 50 W. Atlantic Blvd., Pompano Beach; 2 p.m.; $35; pompanobeacharts.org. In celebration of Memorial Day, an all-star cast of South Florida theatre’s top leading ladies performs a concert of standards from the World War II generation, from “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” to “Rum and Coca-Cola.”

May 28:

Chris McDonald’s Memories of Elvis at Boca Black Box, 8221 Glades Road, Suite 10, Boca Raton; 7 p.m.; $46.50$61.50; 561/483-9036, bocablackbox.com. Elvis impersonator MacDonald, a dead ringer for the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, will pay tribute to Presley’s legacy with this theatrical production. He’ll perform songs from the many eras of Elvis’ career, supplemented with costume changes, backup singers, dancers and an eight-piece concert band.

June 2:

Chris Porter at Boca Black Box, 8221 Glades Road, Suite 10, Boca Raton; 9 p.m.; $32$42; 561/483-9036, bocablackbox.com. A Los Angeles comedian by way of his native Kansas, Chris Porter channels both the West Coast and the Midwest in his act, cultivating a blue, angry, everyman persona that borrows from Bill Hicks as much as Sam Kinison. Porter made it to the finals on season four of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.”

June 14-Oct. 22:

Sri Prabha: “Resonator –Reanimator” at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton; $12-$16 museum admission; 561/3922500, bocamuseum.org. An artist who creates interactive installations in the Fluxus tradition, Prabha’s site-specific exhibition at the Boca Museum invites attendees to climb in and around it, while considering its relationship to the video projections, wall sculptures and archaeological fossils surrounding it.

June 14-Oct. 22:

Sari Dienes: “Incidental Nature” at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton; $12-$16 museum admission; 561/3922500, bocamuseum.org. In a career spanning 60 years, the late Dienes helped bridge gaps between the Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s and the Pop Art of the 1960s.

“Incidental Nature” focuses on the Austrian-born artist’s “Sidewalk Rubbings,” in which she appropriated urban symbols such as manhole covers and subway gratings into geometric compositions.

June 15:

Authors Speak: Dr. Marquis Bey at Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach; 6 p.m.; free with online registration; 561/450-6457, artsgarage.org. The Spady Cultural Heritage Museum’s ongoing speaker series on the impact of race on American society welcomes Dr. Marquis Bey, a professor at Northwestern University, whose book “Black Trans Feminism” explores the radical possibilities of these three identifiers.

June 17:

Tori Amos at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 8 p.m.; $39-$119; 561/832-7469, kravis.org. A child piano prodigy at the age of 5, Amos emerged as one of rock’s most influential women with her instant-classic 1992 debut, Little Earthquakes

Fifteen diverse and sophisticated releases have followed, including her latest, Ocean to Ocean; this tour marks the continuation of the singer-songwriter’s first American tour since the pandemic.

Cutler Altier, President & CEO William Altier, Vice President

Tristan Altier

Altier Jewelers

Old-time tradition and family values shine as brightly as the inventory at Altier Jewelers, Boca Raton‘s very first jewelry store.

Cutler Altier and his brother William (Will) are the third-generation owners of Altier, filling their grandparents’ sizable shoes with the personalized, honest service that would have made Joseph and Marjorie Altier proud. “They built this business over 60 years ago, with a strong work ethic and morals. Will and I try to carry on their legacy and service to the community,” says Cutler. “We have clients from Naples, Tallahassee, Tampa and Key West who travel to us because we provide them with an experience they have enjoyed. We are always acting in a client’s best interest,” he explains.

Altier offers fine jewelry and watch repair services, important diamond sales and branded jewelry such as Gucci, Roberto Coin, Hulchi Belluni, Montblanc and Temple St. Clair. They are also authorized dealers for Patek Philippe and Cartier timepieces. Will handles many of the VIP clients and important diamond sales, and manages the jewelry lines. He has great experience with high-end sales as well as wholesale.

“We started at the ground level and worked our way through every inch of this business. We complement each other. Neither one of us would want to run this business without each other,” says Will.

Cutler explains, “my son Tristan Altier is a very talented, 21-year-old addition to the family business, learning everything from the back of the house to the front. He will be a great representation of the fourth generation and will carry our family legacy to new heights.”

Altier Jewelers

701 S. Federal Highway

Boca Raton, FL 33432

561.395.3462

Altierjewelers.com

David Zappitell, Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer

Zappitell Law Firm

Each day in his boutique personal injury law firm in Delray Beach, David Zappitell encounters very painful wrongful death cases and is consumed with consoling grieving families who have lost loved ones. Zappitell considers his firm to be an old-school law practice, achieving great results for people by treating them the way they deserve to be treated.

“My people-first strategic approach of practicing law yields excellent results for my clients. Other lawyers seek my advice frequently. It is as much about the process as it is taking care of people and comforting them—a part of my job I take very seriously,” he explains.

The most credentialed Civil Trial Lawyer practicing personal injury south of West Palm Beach and north of Fort Lauderdale, Zappitell has been in practice for more than 30 years. Along with his passion for his profession and philanthropy, art has always been a tremendous part of Zappitell’s life.

“Art gives me a more human, less lawyer-like perspective”, he says. “I have recently expanded my talents on a grand scale with a company I started, Zappitell Projects, featuring a stunning modern industrial home that I built as an extension of my creativity, and another way of thinking outside the box. This incredible one-ofa-kind-home in Delray Beach is just a two-minute walk from the beach and a block from Atlantic Avenue, offering the best of all worlds.”

Zappitell reflects, “the true work of art in my life has actually been raising my three kids. They have been a huge part of my grounding, and who I am as a person.”

Zappitell Law Firm

200 NE 2nd Avenue, Suite 103

Delray Beach, FL 33444

561.330.6330

Florida.law

Daniel P. Nolan, Founder Nolan Construction Company

Daniel P. Nolan started his construction career working summers as a land surveyor for his father’s civil engineering firm in Fort Lauderdale. He then moved on to various positions, including laborer, carpenter and foreman, during his summer breaks while attending the University of Alabama. After graduating with degrees in business management and real estate, he spent time gaining invaluable experience as a high-rise superintendent for a large developer and a project manager for a well-respected general contractor. Parlaying his years of experience, the Boca Raton native founded Nolan Construction Company in 1999 to provide quality commercial and residential constructionrelated services to select clients in South Florida.

Nolan’s hands-on construction experience prepared him to take on commercial projects ranging from retail centers and office buildings to storage facilities, multifamily, restaurants and exclusive residential projects.

His project and client lists are broad, ranging with projects including North Boca Self-Storage, a 126,000-square-foot facility in Boca Raton for Rosemurgy Properties and Sentry Self-Storage, to the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, where Nolan Construction Company recently renovated the 80 guest rooms, retail space and common areas for the iconic hotel, and Lyons Retail Center in West Delray for Bayan Development.

Nolan explains, “a construction project is like a three-legged stool in which the ownership, design and construction teams must work together as a cohesive unit to ensure a successful project. We cater to our clients in an effort to provide more of a personalized Building Quality experience.”

Nolan Construction.com

Alan Kaye, Managing Director Transworld Commercial Real Estate

As one of the largest business brokerage firms in the world, Transworld Business Advisors has more than 40 years of expertise in dealing with all business transactions, from main street business sales to large-scale mergers and acquisitions.

With 25 years of commercial real estate expertise, seasoned broker and former practicing attorney Alan Kaye was well prepared to take the helm in the newly conceived commercial division as Transworld’s Florida Managing Director for Commercial Real Estate. Kaye’s vast industry experience has resulted in more than $1 billion in commercial real estate transactions.

“Transworld’s competitive market advantage enables us to create maximum value for the business, whether local small businesses or mergers and acquisitions, all while maximizing the value of the real estate as well,” Kaye says. “Sometimes, because of the emotional attachment owners have towards the business they have spent years growing, they have an unrealistic expectation of its true value. By getting clients more money for the real estate, we have been able to bridge the gap between their expectations and market value.”

In 2021, Kaye was involved in the sale of the iconic Mai-Kai Polynesian Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. As the restaurant was nonoperational due to a roofing issue, Transworld was able to achieve more for the real estate, finding the perfect buyer to rebuild the restaurant with plans to build a Polynesianthemed hotel on the surplus land.

“This deal represented the benefits our clients receive every day by having Transworld be the single point of contact to represent them, as opposed to dealing with one firm for the business, and one for the real estate,” Kaye reflects.

Transworld Business Advisors

5101 NW. 21st Ave. Suite 300 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309

954-558-8058 akaye@tworld.com

Keith Gamble, President and Owner

Northern Star Construction

Keith Gamble is a master at building and remodeling high-quality custom kitchens and baths to fit any lifestyle and budget. His company, Northern Star Construction in Coral Springs, has established a reputation for excellence that is unparalleled in the business.

“My dad was a builder, so I’ve been in the business since I was a kid, growing up in Boston and visiting South Florida for summer breaks,” Keith points out. “I moved down here in 2000, and in 2009, I obtained my General Contractor’s license and opened Northern Star Construction.”

“I hire top skilled subcontractors who specialize in areas such as demolition, tile work, countertops and custom kitchen cabinetry,” explains Keith.

He resides in Coral Springs with his wife, Michelle, 6-year-old son, Kaden, and 5-yearold daughter, Jacqueline.

Keith highlights: “I will not start demolition until we have all the materials and work to tighten my schedule so we do not have as much downtime for the client.”

Keith utilizes his degree in communications to concisely explain to his clients all of their options. He genuinely enjoys taking the journey of remodeling and building with his client, as well as the pride and joy of a beautifully finished project. That, along with his artistic eye, his collaborations with high-end designers and his expertise in the field, sets Keith apart from his competitors.

Northern Star Construction

12253 Glenmore Drive

Coral Springs, FL 33071 786-201-5522 nst4r.com

Real estate broker Anne De Marzo has received national acclaim for her impressive achievements in representing the finest luxury properties in Boca Raton. Ranked in the top 1% of Coldwell Banker real estate agents nationwide, Anne is leading the luxury landscape in Boca Raton and beyond.

In her exemplary 45-year career, Anne has successfully negotiated over $1+ Billion in sales ranging from luxury estate homes and oceanfront properties.

Top-Ranked Broker in Southeast Florida Legends Society Award | 2022

International President’s Elite | 2022

International President's Premier | 2021

International Diamond Society | 2020

Exhibitions

Through May 21, 2023

Whitfield Lovell: Passages

Oswaldo Vigas

June 14 - October 22, 2023

Sri Prabha: Resonator - Reanimator

Sari Dienes: Incidental Nature

Matthew Schreiber: Drawings and Holograms

Benn Mitchell Photographs: Hollywood to NYC

Members Enjoy More

More Fun - Invitations to exclusive member parties and previews

More Art - Discounts at the Museum Store and Art School

More Connection - Free or discounted talks, concerts, family activities, and more

Learn more about exhibitions and membership at BOCAMUSEUM.ORG