Uncommon ability

Brad Jones.

Common name. Common story.

Or so says Brad Jones.

“This is all kind of a humble beginning for me,” he said in a telephone interview last week. “I’m nobody right now.”

The man is selling himself short, it seems. In a town with lots of musicians who’ve come to Bend from Portland and points beyond, Jones, 38, is a native, a former Mountain View High School student, and a guy who can remember a local music scene of a different era.

That was when he played with Floor-Ride, a band that found success locally and got to tour with the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies at the height of their fame.

Back then, “there was the Bond Brothers and Simon Something were in town, and Unshakable Race,” Jones said. “It was a big, big, really good music scene back then, and now the music scene’s coming back and it’s pretty nice to see.”

Over the past year or so, Jones has become an active part of that scene under his own name.

His resurgence will culminate Saturday night when he celebrates the release of his new CD, “No Strings,” with a show at The Annex (see “If you go”).

The album is several months in the making, but Jones’ musical skill — he made almost every sound on “No Strings,” guitars, bass, keys and drums included — dates back decades. His grandmother was a concert pianist in the mid-20th century, and her ability trickled down.

“I watched her play when I was a teeny kid, and then I started just playing The Doors when I was like 5 years old on piano. My parents were pretty shocked,” Jones said. “And the Beatles. I started playing The Doors and the Beatles by ear. Kind of weird. And I found out later I was pitch perfect.”

In high school, Jones played in Mountain View’s jazz band with successful local rapper David Alexander, aka The Dirtball. (The two remain close friends.) After a few years living in New York, Jones, a “die-hard skier,” returned to Bend and eventually found his own success with Floor-Ride.

As most bands do, though, Floor-Ride petered out and Jones dropped off the local-music radar for a bit.

“I ended up creating my own music, (like) movie scores … and commercial stuff and beats for hip-hop artists,” he said. “Then I kind of got inspired to start singing again.”

He resurfaced a while back at Bendistillery Martini Bar, where he would play solo gigs and join in with DJ Defekt. And about a year ago, he got the itch to make music for himself and set about recording “No Strings” over eight months in his home studio. The record is packed with songs that blur the lines between electronica, pop and hip-hop; you can hear some of it at www.myspace.com/bradsterjoneser.

“I thought of, like, (electronica pioneers) The Prodigy meets (hip-hop giants) A Tribe Called Quest,” Jones said. “So I went ahead and did a good song and everybody gave me good feedback on it, so I decided to continue with it, and I got lucky and came up with some really cool ideas.

“It’s hip-hop meets electronica,” he said. “And nobody’s doing it, so I wanted to get a little unique and a little different. Try something new.”

While Jones will continue his side gig with local jam-band The Mostest, he plans to focus more on his solo career going forward. He hopes to tour in the near future and is trying to snag some work composing music for Hollywood films.

In the meantime, though, Jones says he’s enjoying the response he’s received from a local music scene that has nurtured him his whole life.

“Everyone’s been really good,” he said. “I’ve been loved. I’m happy. I guess that’s what happens when you’re good to everybody for the last 10 years.”

If you go

What: Brad Jones CD-release show, with The Mostest, Manic and DJ Defekt

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: The Annex, 51 N.W. Greenwood Ave., Bend

Cost: $5

Contact: www.myspace.com/bradsterjoneser