My friend Trevor “Gypsy” Jones, who has died aged 82, was a notable figure in the progressive rock movement of the late 1960s and early 70s. Later he became a session music and record producer before setting up a groundbreaking music performance and production department at what is now East Sussex College in Eastbourne – an innovation that was much copied by other educational establishments around the UK.
Born in Faversham, Kent, to John, a teacher, and Kathleen (nee Spratling), a housewife, Trevor attended the Simon Langton school in Canterbury, where he was a schoolmate of many of the key figures in what later emerged to be the “Canterbury Scene” of psychedelic prog rock, including Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge and Kevin Ayers.
He gained his “Gypsy” nickname because of his dark complexion and habit of wearing a piece of gold (actually a curtain ring) in one of his earlobes.
In 1964, when he was 20, Trevor moved with his parents to Tasmania and within weeks had formed a band there with his brother, John, on guitar and Trevor on bass and vocals. They had Australian hit singles with a series of subsequent bands, including Chaos & Co, Mickey Finn and Sweaty Betty.
By 1971 the brothers were resettled in the UK, where, with two Irish musicians, David Mercer and Kerry Scott, they formed the folk rock outfit Anno Domini, releasing an album, On This New Day, that year.
It was with Trevor’s next band, Jonesy, that he made his most significant contribution to the prog rock genre. The group released two albums, No Alternative (1972) and Keeping Up (1973), and then a final LP, Growing (also 1973), which won critical acclaim, if not massive sales, before they split up.
Trevor then worked as an independent producer, recording various artists, including Willie Rushton, and as a session musician, helping out bands such as the Moody Blues and Ten Years After. He was also involved in a wide variety of other projects, co-creating the Lone Groover EP in 1980 with NME magazine cartoonist Tony Benyon and an LP, Fantasy Shift (1983), with the pyschedelic/space rock band Here & Now.
Those ventures eventually led him to full-time employment as a record producer with the BBC in the late 80s, working on a number of albums, including recordings of classical music with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
While he enjoyed working for the BBC, he was less enamoured with the daily commute from Eastbourne, where he lived, and in 1994 took up work nearer home, teaching courses on radio production and performance at the Eastbourne College of Arts and Technology, where I was a lecturer.
In 1996 he set up a music performance and production department for the college, subsequently developing modules up to degree level. Over time he also became the college’s music course co-ordinator, overseeing the delivery of all music production courses until his retirement in 2012.
It was rarely possible to get a word in edgeways with Trev, and he would regale all who would listen with an astonishing collection of stories from his music business years.
He is survived by his wife, Dagmar (nee Bilgenroth), who became his partner in the early 70s and whom he married in 1981, and their two sons, Damian and Toby.
