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Jo Jones


paul secor

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Over the past couple of months I've listened to a number of records which Jo Jones plays on - most recently Illinois Jacquet's Swing's the Thing (Verve) and Illinois Jacquet (Epic/Classic), along with several of Jo Jones' albums on Pablo and Denon. I'd heard Jo Jones for many years, but until recently I hadn't truly listened and heard what he was saying. What a wonderful musician! He was able be fiery and subtle at the same time. I'm especially impressed with the way that he varied his accompaniment on the same tune, depending on who was soloing - a quality lacking in many drummers.

I'm sorry for myself that I took his playing for granted for all those years, but I'm happy to be hearing him now. That's one of the great things about music - no matter how long you've been listening, there's always something new to listen to and learn from.

If anyone has any thoughts, anecdotes, favorite recordings, whatever - I'd be happy to read them and I'm sure that others would too.

P.S. Before writing this, I reread Nat Hentoff's memories of Jo Jones, "Mr. Jonathan David Samuel Jones", in his book, Listen to the Stories - a most worthy tribute. I'd like to sign off with a quote from that chapter attributed to Max Roach: "For every three beats a drummer plays, he owes Jo five."

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Guest youmustbe

Papa Joe got a little testy in his old age.

I remember when Don Buys came back, forget what year. Opened at Vanguard...1st set, 3rd tune, Joe started an argument over tempi...they stopped, argued, and then went on.

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Papa Jo has been my all-time favorite drummer for years. Every session he played, he elevated. His work with Basie of course is probably his longest-lasting testament, but he's on a million sessions from the 50s that are essential, namely the two January 56 dates with Lester Young, Jazz Giants and Pres and Teddy (listen to Pres Returns on the latter for a clinic on how to compliment a soloist).

He also made everything look so easy. In my opinion, he steals "The Sound of Jazz" every time the camera hits him, with that gigantic smile that both opens and closes the program (by the way, that open, when you just hear his hi-hat and then his smiling face lights up the screen, is one of my favorite moments in TV history). CBS should have given him a show to vent his opinions....Papa Knows Best?

Sadly, as the other posters have noted, he does seem to have grown salty towards the end. I recently watched the excellent Lester Young documentary Song of the Spirit which features Jones being interviewed shortly before his death. He sounded unhappy and looked terrible, with a messy beard and mishapen teeth...I prefer to remember him smiling during his solo on "Rosetta" on The Sound of Jazz.

Rick

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This is for Clementine re: "The Dixieland All Stars". The session you're referring to was recorded in Boston sometime between June 6 and 18, 1959. All 13 titles plus 3 tunes recorded for a local TV program on June 3, 1959 are on a Jazz Unlimited CD (JUCD 2037). Check the Storyville Records web site for current availability.

The correct personnel is: Buck Clayton trumpet; Vic Dickenson, trombone; Pee Wee Russell, clarinet; Bud Freeman, tenor; Lou Carter, piano; Champlin Jones, bass (not Arvell Shaw), and Jo Jones, drums. The tunes are:

Someone To Watch Over Me

Strike Up The Band

Sweet Sue

Billboard March

Ballin' The Jack

Muskrat Ramble

Somebody Loves Me

Bugle Call Rag

Synthetic Blues

When The Saints...

Embraceable You

Fascinating Rhythm

St, James Infirmary

and from the TV show:

Deed I Do

Dinah

Sunday

Edited by Don Brown
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Some mid-to-late 50´s and early 60´s superb recordings with Jo Jones:

-Ben Webster with strings (Webster, Ben) Verve 1954 (54-55)

-Pres and Teddy (Young, Lester & Wilson, Teddy) Verve 1956

-At Newport (Count BasieOrchestra) Verve 1957

-Gil Evans & Ten (Evans, Gil) Prestige/OJC 1957

-Plays (Sonny Rollins Quintet) Fresh Sound Records 1957

-Songs for hip lovers (Woody Herman Orchestra) Verve 1957

-The hawk flies high (Hawkins, Coleman) Riverside 1957

-Mai 57 to Mars 63 (Peterson, Oscar) Jazz Magazine 1957 (57-63)

-Side by side (Ellington, Duke & Hodges, Johnny) Verve 1958 (58-59)

-Back to back (Ellington, Duke & Hodges, Johnny) Verve 1959

-Ben Webster and associates (Webster, Ben) Verve 1959

-Further definitions (Carter, Benny) Impulse 1961

-Ella & Duke at the Côte D´Azur Verve 1966

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And how about the Mingus Candid session with Jones & Eldridge aboard? I love it! The best of it is Jones' playing while Roy's soloing, sort of like the two elder guys have even more fire than Mingus & his aggregation (which certainly did not lack in fire either)...

ubu

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I had the privilege of producing a couple of sessions on which he played drums--he was great to work with. Yes, he did get into a little argument with Roy Eldridge at one of the sessions, but a friendly one. I often ran into him in watering holes around town and he could become quite talkative after a few drinks, often telling stories that most musicians would stay away from lest they reached the ears of someone like John Hammond, who could be extremely vindictive.

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Paul Quinichette on Riverside

Paul Quinichette never recorded for Riverside, to my knowledge, so I reckon you're talkin' 'bout the two Basie-ites Prestige sessions:

OJC OJCCD-978-2 - Paul Quinichette - For Basie

OJC OJCCD-1049-2 - Paul Quinichette - Basie Reunion

I have a very interesting duo recording Jo Jones did with Milt Hinton, originally on Everest, available on Fresh Sound FSR-CD 204 "Percussion and Bass", that has him on vibes, tambourine, timpani as well as traps, shows a lot more versatility than usually expected.

There were some solo recordings done for the French Jazz Odyssey label in 1973, but I never saw these anywhere, has anybody here heard them?

Those Vanguards are very nice indeed, it's a shame they were reissued in such a scattered fashion.

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Mikeweil wrote:

                    There were some solo recordings done for the French Jazz Odyssey

label in 1973, but I never saw these anywhere, has anybody here heard them?

Had this Jazz Odyssey once. Pretty interesting album where Jo Jones talked about various

drumming and jazzdance greats and and demonstrated how THEY performed. Then

Jo Jones showed what jazz drums was all about.

Willie The Lion Smith also played on that album.

Wish I had not parted with it. It's indeed pretty rare nowadays.

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Did they issued that album as CD?

I've heard about the film, with almost the same content, but I don't now is it from that session, or something separately and different?

Anyway, as far as I tried to manage that on the Net, there were no traces of it.

Do someone knows anything about the film with Jo Jones?

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  • 4 years later...

Here are some more 50's sessions which benefit from Jo Jones' presence:

Buck Clayton: The Essential Buck Clayton (Vanguard)

Vic Dickenson: The Essential Vic Dickenson (Vanguard)

Zoot Sims / Bob Brookmeyer: Morning Fun (Black Lion)

Sonny Stitt: New York Jazz (Verve)

Nat Pierce: Kansas City Memories (Coral; recently reissued by Fresh Sound on a twofer together with other Nat Pierce sessions)

Johnny Hodges: Smooth One (Verve; included in the Mosaic Box Set)

Jimmy Rushing: Rushing Lullabies (Columbia)

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correct me, dumpy mama, if I've told this story before -

one night Jones was playing at the West End Cafe in NYC and he was lecturing some young musician about being on time for the gig - the owner of the West End, who was one of the most disgusting characters on the face of the earth, comes up to him and says "Mr. Jones, I own this pplace and I just want to thank you for being so responsible." Jones looks at him, says with utter contempt, "You own this place? I don't give a fuck about no nightclub owner" and stalks off -

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Here are some more 50's sessions which benefit from Jo Jones' presence:

Buck Clayton: The Essential Buck Clayton (Vanguard)

Vic Dickenson: The Essential Vic Dickenson (Vanguard)

Zoot Sims / Bob Brookmeyer: Morning Fun (Black Lion)

Sonny Stitt: New York Jazz (Verve)

Nat Pierce: Kansas City Memories (Coral; recently reissued by Fresh Sound on a twofer together with other Nat Pierce sessions)

Johnny Hodges: Smooth One (Verve; included in the Mosaic Box Set)

Jimmy Rushing: Rushing Lullabies (Columbia)

There's also The Jo Jones Special on Vanguard with Emmett Berry, Benny Green, Lucky Thompson, Nat Pierce, Freddie Greene, Walter Page and Count Basie as guest star.

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Here are some more 50's sessions which benefit from Jo Jones' presence:

Buck Clayton: The Essential Buck Clayton (Vanguard)

Vic Dickenson: The Essential Vic Dickenson (Vanguard)

Zoot Sims / Bob Brookmeyer: Morning Fun (Black Lion)

Sonny Stitt: New York Jazz (Verve)

Nat Pierce: Kansas City Memories (Coral; recently reissued by Fresh Sound on a twofer together with other Nat Pierce sessions)

Johnny Hodges: Smooth One (Verve; included in the Mosaic Box Set)

Jimmy Rushing: Rushing Lullabies (Columbia)

There's also The Jo Jones Special on Vanguard with Emmett Berry, Benny Green, Lucky Thompson, Nat Pierce, Freddie Greene, Walter Page and Count Basie as guest star.

Thanks Bill, forgot that one. Jo Jones also played on most of the early-to-mid-50's Buck Clayton Jam Sessions.

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correct me, dumpy mama, if I've told this story before -

one night Jones was playing at the West End Cafe in NYC and he was lecturing some young musician about being on time for the gig - the owner of the West End, who was one of the most disgusting characters on the face of the earth, comes up to him and says "Mr. Jones, I own this pplace and I just want to thank you for being so responsible." Jones looks at him, says with utter contempt, "You own this place? I don't give a fuck about no nightclub owner" and stalks off -

Lugoff?

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  • 10 years later...

 Dear 'Jazz-Fans'  this my Records Collections of the ''Great Jazz''-drummer..
 *,Papa JO  JONES,*.. Please, write me if you see records of your interest
 to get/receive. Thanks, Ciao fabio..), E-mail ,me, fabiodrummy@gmail.com

1-jo jones +count basie , lucky Thompson , walter page.'special' .family
 .......................................
 2-jo jones ''all stars'' Harold baker,mary Osborne, tyree glenn..roulette
………...........................
3-drums odyssey ,jo jones , zutty singleton ,cosy cole micheal silva...odyssey
 .......................................
 4-jo jones + willie ''the lion'' Smith ,p 'le lion+le tigre' et la
 madelon..odyssey
 .................................................
 5-jo jones + williw 'the lion' Smith, p.. duo ..odyseey006-
 .......................................
 6-jo jones + milt buckner,Org..'' blues for diane ''.odyssey011-
 ..................................................
 7-jo jones + milt buckner,Org'' deux gèants du jazz ''.odyseey004-
…......................................
8-the main man ,,pablo-
...............................
9-jo jones-trio ray bryant ,musidisc-
…..........................
10-jo jones-' plus two ' trio ray Bryant ,vanguard-
…...........................
11-jo jones ''vamp till ready.+.harry''sweet''Edison ,Everest-records-
 x-autografo,,Hanry''Sweet'' Edison.. Tommy Flanagan..
 .............................................
 12-jo jones 'caravan'+buckner,,jacquet,wiggins... black+white-
…….........................
13-jo jones ''our man ,papa jo.!! , hank jones , Jimmy oliver,sax
  ,holley,cb..denon-Japan.,
….................................
14-jo jones ,+, milt hinton ,cb 'percussion .+. bass' ..Everest-
............................................
15-milt buckner,piano,Trio + jo jones ,Jimmy Woods,cb ''plays-chords''MPS..
 .....................................

-

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11 minutes ago, Fabio Baglioni said:

 Dear 'Jazz-Fans'  this my Records Collections of the ''Great Jazz''-drummer..
 *,Papa JO  JONES,*.. Please, write me if you see records of your interest
 to get/receive. Thanks, Ciao fabio..), E-mail ,me, fabiodrummy@gmail.com

 

Jim just told you not to solicit trades on the board.  You are begging him to flag you as a spammer and ban you from the site.

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Dear Mr. Don Gould, for all I have understood from Mr.JSngry ..'' I have ..NOT,,NEVER..again..to  post/uploads  Clips video of Live jazzmen concerts,.!!. This is ..NOT , NOT.. at a sort of 'spammer'' as ''YOU'' want to tell.. I want to sell these my Vinyle,Lp. of Jo Jones and I have done(*myself) this short Clips to show the cover-box of the records, and as you can  see, there is the page-lists with the titles and labels of each-vinyles ''showed'' in the Clips,.!!. The Clips is ..ONLY.. for make see , views the cover-boxes of each vinyles in the page-list..!!.

-

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