How David Jones Started Playing Saxophone and Formed His First Bands

Discovering the Saxophone

David Robert Jones's fascination with music began in the mid-1950s, when he was living with his family in Bromley, Kent. At approximately nine years of age, he saw Little Richard performing on television and was transfixed — not merely by the music but by the sheer physicality and flamboyance of the performance. He later described the experience as a revelation, the moment he understood that music could be a vehicle for total self-expression.

His father, Haywood Stenton Jones, recognised the intensity of his son's interest and, in 1961, purchased a Grafton acrylic alto saxophone for him. The instrument — a distinctive cream-coloured plastic saxophone manufactured in London — was an affordable alternative to brass models, making it a practical choice for a working-class family. It was, however, far from a toy: the Grafton had been used by professional musicians including Charlie Parker, and it produced a legitimate, if somewhat thin, tone.

Lessons with Ronnie Ross

Through his father's connections, young David was introduced to Ronnie Ross, a respected baritone saxophonist who had performed with such jazz luminaries as Don Rendell and had won the title of best baritone saxophone player in a readers' poll for Melody Maker. Ross agreed to give the boy private lessons, and these sessions provided David with a formal grounding in technique, breath control, and musical theory that would prove invaluable throughout his career.

Ross was a patient and rigorous teacher who insisted on proper fundamentals. Under his tutelage, David progressed rapidly from basic scales to improvisation, developing an understanding of jazz phrasing that would later distinguish his saxophone playing from the more rudimentary rock & roll honking common among his contemporaries. The relationship between teacher and student would come full circle years later when Bowie invited Ross to play the saxophone solo on “Walk on the Wild Side” during his production of Lou Reed's Transformer in 1972.

The Kon-Rads (1962–1963)

David's first band was The Kon-Rads, a group he joined in 1962 while attending Bromley Technical High School. The band had been formed by schoolmates Neville Wills, Alan Dodds, and Roger Bluck, and David was recruited primarily as a saxophonist, though he also contributed backing vocals. The group played a mixture of rock & roll covers and nascent original material at local venues, youth clubs, and school events.

The Kon-Rads represented David's apprenticeship in the mechanics of being in a band — rehearsing, negotiating setlists, dealing with unreliable equipment, and performing for indifferent audiences. The group made a demo recording at Decca Studios in 1963, but it failed to secure a recording contract. Nevertheless, the experience confirmed David's determination to pursue a career in music, and he left the band toward the end of 1963 to seek more ambitious opportunities.

It was also during this period that David sustained the eye injury from his friend George Underwood that would result in his famous permanently dilated left pupil— an event that occurred alongside these early musical explorations.

The King Bees (1964)

In early 1964, David formed The King Bees with guitarist Roger Bluck (who had followed him from The Kon-Rads), George Underwood on guitar, Dave Howard on bass, and Robert Allen on drums. The band played rhythm and blues in the style of the Rolling Stones and the Pretty Things, reflecting the British R&B boom that was sweeping through London's club scene.

The King Bees secured the attention of manager Leslie Conn, who arranged for them to record a single for Decca subsidiary Vocalion. The resulting track, “Liza Jane,” was released in June 1964 under the name Davie Jones with the King Bees. It failed to chart, but it represented David's first commercially released recording — a milestone that, however modest, marked his entry into the professional music industry.

The band dissolved after approximately six months, a pattern that would characterise David's early career: rapid formation of groups, intense creative activity, and swift dissolution as he outgrew each configuration and sought new musical directions.

The Manish Boys and Beyond

Following The King Bees, David joined The Manish Boys, a larger rhythm and blues ensemble that included session guitarist Jimmy Page on their single “I Pity the Fool” (1965). The band offered David greater musical sophistication and exposure to the London club circuit, though commercial success remained elusive. He subsequently moved through The Lower Third and The Buzz, each group representing a step closer to the artistic vision he was developing.

Throughout these formative ensembles, the saxophone remained David's primary instrument, though he was increasingly drawn to singing and songwriting. By the time he adopted the stage name David Bowie in 1966 — to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees — he had begun to conceive of himself as a solo artist who happened to play saxophone rather than a saxophonist who happened to sing. This subtle but crucial shift in self-perception would define the rest of his career.

The Saxophone Throughout Bowie's Career

Although the guitar and voice became Bowie's most visible instruments, the saxophone remained a vital component of his musical identity. It featured prominently on landmark recordings throughout his career: the haunting opening of “Changes” (1971), the frenetic energy of “Suffragette City” (1972), the mournful beauty of “Lady Stardust” (1972), and the visceral expressionism of the Blackstar title track (2015).

On Blackstar, his final album, Bowie returned to the saxophone with an intensity that suggested a kind of homecoming. The instrument's presence on the album — raw, unadorned, and emotionally devastating — connected his final artistic statement to his earliest musical impulse: the twelve-year-old boy in Bromley, holding a plastic saxophone, dreaming of Little Richard and a life transformed by music.

The trajectory from The Kon-Rads to Blackstarspans more than half a century, yet the saxophone provides a continuous thread through Bowie's entire career. It was the instrument that introduced him to music, the tool through which he first expressed himself artistically, and the voice with which he chose to say goodbye.