An international jazz musician, Pucci Amanda Jhones is a storyteller whose rich, smooth, original voice makes each song feel lived-in rather than revisited.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, she draws from the blues and jazz tradition inspired by her father, Horace Luke Wooten — blues singer, harmonicist, and self-taught pianist — who taught her to take her blues interpretations down to the cotton fields of the South.
As a bandleader, Pucci reshapes a song from the inside. Ballads linger, exposing the weight of the lyrics. Up-tempo numbers swing into a deeper groove under her phrasing. Bending tones, playing behind the beat, and opening space within the melody, she allows her musicians the freedom to groove to the intensity of the songs.
A graduate of the New School with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Classical and Contemporary Music, she has recorded with, shared the bandstand with, and opened for a roll call of jazz legends: Kenny Barron, Jacky Terrasson, Cindy Blackman Santana, Reggie Workman, Houston Person, Stanley Turrentine, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, John Stubblefield, Casey Benjamin, and Freddy Cole. Her debut album Sweet Dreams, featuring Kenny Barron, established her within a lineage of straight-ahead jazz practitioners. Her subsequent recordings — Wild Is the Wind and Love Jhones — documented a consistent approach: standards treated as flexible frameworks rather than fixed scripts. Beyond the bandstand, Pucci is a SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity member, a visual artist, and an educator committed to mentoring the next generation.
AllMusic reviewer Steve Loewy described her as singing with a “deep, sultry voice” and praised her “pleasing, controlled” delivery. The review noted her “affinity for bending tones” and “slightly shifting tempos,” observing that her voice “catalyzes the band, particularly when she lets loose.” Those qualities remain central to her live performance practice.
Internationally, Pucci has performed throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States. Extended residencies at the Renaissance Jazz Club in Kuala Lumpur, the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens, Q Jazz Club in Istanbul, the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and a three-year residency at The Living Room at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit in Bangkok cemented her global profile. A sold-out, seventeen-city tour of Russia with the Daniel Kramer Trio expanded her audience in Eastern Europe and reinforced her standing as a vocalist comfortable in varied ensemble settings.
New York remains her artistic base. She has performed at the Blue Note, Birdland, Smalls, Mezzrow, Central Park SummerStage, Lenox Lounge, Jazz at Kitano, Red Rooster, CD101.9 Summer Smooth Jazz Cruise, Minton’s, The Harlem Jazz Museum, Cornelia Street Café, Arthur’s Tavern, The Garage, Jazz at Pier 84, Governors Island Jazz Festival, Feinstein’s, Fat Tuesday’s, Metronome, Lola’s, Sign of the Dove, Parker’s Jazz Room, and the Jazz Room at Mayflower Hotel.
“A captivating performer who tells a story lyrically through song, with her own distinctive phrasing and style.” What great jazz promises is what Pucci Amanda Jhones and her Quartet offer — keeping the audience wanting more.
