Hometown honors Philly Joe Jones

[brownie]

From the Philadelphia Daily News today:

GERMANTOWN JAZZ FEST HONORS CITY'S OWN PHILLY JOE JONES

By AL HUNTER JR.

His full name was Joseph Randolph Jones, but he changed it to Philly Joe to distinguish himself from drummer Jo Jones of Count Basie fame.

Philly Joe came along as bebop took off and the role of the drums in jazz changed. They went from being strict timekeepers, emphasizing the bass drum, to a source of polyrhythms and fills. Into this environment, Jones added unique touches and flourishes to the drums.

A tribute to Jones, who died in 1985 at age 62, will take place on Sunday at the 11th annual Community Jazz Concert in Germantown.

Presented by the Tranestop Resource Institute, in conjunction with Community 500, the tribute will include performances by The Rhythm Swingin' Quintet (Butch Ballard, drums; Sam Dockery, piano; Jymie Merritt, bass; Bootsie Barnes, tenor sax; Robert Kenyatta, congo) and The Chappy Washington Jazz Band (Gerald Young, vocals; Chappy Washington, piano; Sulton Akbar, drums; Gene Tucker, bass). The concert is a prelude to the Tranestop's Coltrane Jazz Festival, Sept. 1-3.

Arnold Boyd, the Tranestop's executive director, talks about Philly Joe and the concert's purpose.

Q: So why honor Philly Joe Jones?

A: Philly Joe Jones is a legendary Philadelphian. We try to focus on the Philadelphia tradition, like Lee Morgan and John Coltrane.

Philly Joe represented the rhythm piece. He played with everyone. He was the drummer that everyone loved and wanted to use. His playing, some people called him a machine gun.

Q: What helped make him popular?

A: People would watch him, follow him around to learn about new techniques, watch him use brushes, accenting bebop bombs, the rim shots. He institutionalized all of that.

Q: What did Philly Joe do for jazz?

A: He brought a sense of slickness and hipness. He was a hip kind of drummer. He was clean, he was poised. He was a social guy and he could play. He was like a great fighter, like Ali. He was pretty. And he'd come in and say what he would do and go do it. During the bebop era they got away from the bass drum, the bass drum became a little lighter.

Q: What do you get out of this concert?

A: We get a classroom situation. We want to teach people about rhythm and swing. We want to teach them about what that is really all about. We wanted to take a 30-year period of a musician's life and relive it with them. From 1952 to 1982, the influences and stages that Philly Joe went through.

Q: Tell me why you chose Butch Ballard (who played drums with Duke Ellington, among others) to represent Philly Joe?

A: We wanted someone who had the wisdom, the age and experience to represent the swing thing that we want to get out of this. We want to take that rhythm from Africa, that drum beat and incorporate it into what Africans developed here in America. Combine them together for that swing thing.

[Ron S]

Guy, you read the Philadelphia Daily News?

[Chalupa]

Not to take anything away from Philly Joe but, they should be honoring Butch Ballard. Probably the only living person to have played w/ Fats Waller, Duke, Basie, and Louis Armstrong.

Edit - That should read "played and recorded w/..."

Edited July 28, 2006 by Chalupa

[brownie]

Guy, you read the Philadelphia Daily News?

When I was in Philadelphia several years ago - short visits - I stuck to the Inquirer -_-

Found the Daily News item while googling for jazz items...