Chris Jones (aka Kris Jonz) is a composer, sound designer, and multimedia artist working across film, television, and new media, blending live improvisation, field recording, and experimental digital manipulation into scores that move fluidly between avant-garde and commercial worlds.
A longtime participant in NYC’s free jazz and experimental music communities, Jones performs on upright bass and Chapman Stick, and studied percussion under both Frank Cassara (Steve Reich, Philip Glass) and jazz legend Jim Chapin — with whom he also performed on bass. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music’s Film Scoring program, with additional studies in filmmaking and art history at C.W. Post and Hunter College. His rhythmic and textural instincts were also shaped by time spent within NYC’s Dub War electronic underground, a subtle yet enduring influence on his sonic language.
His work has been presented or performed at MoMA, The Museum of Contemporary Art (L.I.), Guild Hall, The Watermill Center, Kaufman Music Center, Tilles Center, CBGB’s, The Knitting Factory, ABC No Rio, East End Arts Council, and Southampton Arts Center, including collaborations with artists such as Gary Lucas and Daniel Carter.
Jones’s compositions and sound design have appeared in campaigns and branding for Mercedes-Benz, Vogue, McDonald’s, Quentin Tarantino, American Horror Story, Samsung, Adidas, Intel, Montblanc, Jeep Japan (with Sputniko!), Breaking Bad, TAG Heuer, Red Bull, Vera Wang, Rémy Martin, Honda, GEICO, Garmin, Mayo Clinic, Getty Images, and Gigi Hadid, among others.
In addition to his composing work, Jones currently serves as an archivist for the family of David Burliuk — widely regarded as the father of Russian Futurism — assisting in the preservation and interpretation of Burliuk’s legacy. This initiative is supported by the East End Arts Council, which now stewards Burliuk’s former Hamptons home as a living cultural site.
Based between NYC and The Hamptons, Jones is a Berklee College of Music Mentor, faculty-in-residence at East End Arts Council, and an alumnus of The Watermill Center Artist Residency Program. His work is held in the permanent collections of The Watermill Center and The Museum of Contemporary Art (L.I.).