Fred Stone Jr. started out playing guitar at the age of 8 years old. He studied from his father  (who was also a guitarist, who played with Art Tatum and Frankie Carl).  Mr. Stone, Sr. was aksed to take the chair with Benny Goodman's Band but decided to go on the road with The Dardenelle Group. Fred, Jr. switched from guitar to acoustic bass at 16 and then started playing the electric bass at 18. Fred use to practice deligently listening to Ray Brown/Sam Jones w/Oscar Peterson, Paul Chambers w/Miles Davis and Scotty LaFaro/Gary Peacock/Eddie Gomez w/Bill Evans' records growing up and started playing standards with some of the older musicians his father played with. "I had an early introduction to standards when I played with my fathers friends who were in their 40-50's and I was barely out of my teens playing acoustic bass with no amplification. I didn't have a lot of technique back then but the one thing I did develope at a young age was great time. When I heard Scott LaFaro for the very first time and Gary Peacock with the Bill Evans Trio it blew my mind. I knew immediately that's how I wanted to play the Bass."

At age 20 Fred was accepted at Berklee College of Music where he obtained his Bachelors Degree in Applied Music. He met a lot of great musicians there and had great playing experiences with his teachers such as: Charlie Mariano, Gary Burton, Andy McGhee, Phil Wilson, Mick Goodrick and Joe Hunt. He also studied bass under William (Bill) Curtis, for classical and Major Holley, Ron McClure and Steve Swallow for jazz. "I remember the first time I played with Joe Hunt. I had heard that he played drums with Bill Evans and so I asked him if he ever played with Scott LaFaro and Joe said 'ya, and Scotty totally changed the way I played'; Well playing with Joe Hunt in Boston for so many years totally changed the way I played. I've seldom played on 'One' since". After being the first bass student of Berklee to go through the Degree program Fred was later offered a teaching position within the Bass Department at Berklee. That is where Fred devised his Bass Lines Analysis course which eventually resulted into three instructional books written by Fred. After teaching a few years at Berklee College Fred went to Rochester, NY where he did his Masters Degree in Jazz History and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School Of Music and studied advanced repetoire and technique with classical bassist and virtuouso JB Vandemark. Fred is on the faculty of/and teaches at The Hochstein School of Music and Dance and also offers private lessons at his home studio in Rochester, NY. Along with teaching and performing Fred is currently Principle Bassist for both the Brighton and for the Equinox Symphonies. Fred does a lot of concerts, festivals and jazz venues in and around the New York State area and has played and toured with some great artists such as Sheila Jordan, Mark Murphy, Eddie Daniels, Chuck Mangione, Joe Romano, Steve Gadd, Herb Ellis, Larry Coryell. Fred also toured with other famed greats such as Buddy Rich, Peggy Lee and Tony Bennett. While at Eastman Fred got to play with Michael Brecker, Dave Leibman, Richie Bierach, Bob Brookmeyer. Fred just recently ended a ten year engagement at the Little Theater Arts Cafe with vocalist Diane Armesto and now periodically plays there with his own group.
Fred is aways happy to take more gigs and concerts and is currently trying to promote his Trio/Quartet called "Face the Bass" which features lots of standards and original tunes as played by the Acoustic/Electric bass. Fred plays in a wide variety of genres anything from Blues Bands, Jazz Fusion, Jazz & Be-Bop, Jazz Big Bands to playing two Bass Concertos with the Symphony. Fred is also happy to take on new and eagar students who want to learn the traditions and state of the art studies of the Bass. I believe in the words my father gave me in teaching music "you give a lesson, you get a lesson". Of couse a profound note of duty mentioned here is that if it wasn't for his mothers persistent love for music and draggin' him away from those 'sand lot baseball games' to practice music, he might never have been the musician he is today. "I remember growing up seeing my fathers records of Chet Baker and Frank Rosolino on the sofa. I also joined the RCA Jazz record club when I was about 16. An Ahmad Jamal record came in the mail by mistake and my mother instinctively opened it and played it. She told me to listen to the bassist who was Israel Crosby. I was immediately hooked to the Trio Sound of Bass, Piano and Drums and have been ever since. To my Mother's insistence and my Father's inspiration I say:
 "Domo Arigato Gozaimasu"!