"Papa" Jo Jones
Born Oct 7, 1911 in
Chicago, IL
Died Sep 3, 1985 in New York, NY
Jo Jones shifted the timekeeping role of the
drums from the bass drum to the hi-hat cymbal, greatly
influencing all swing and bop drummers. Buddy
Rich and Louie Bellson were just two who learned from his
light but forceful playing, as Jones swung the Count Basie
Orchestra with just the right accents and sounds. After growing
up in Alabama, Jones worked as a drummer and tap-dancer with
carnival shows. He joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in Oklahoma
City in the late '20s. After a period with Lloyd Hunter's band
in Nebraska, Jones moved to Kansas City in 1933, joining Count
Basie's band the following year. He went with Basie to New York
in 1936 and with Count, Freddie Green and Walter Page he formed
one of the great rhythm sections. Jones was with the Basie band
(other than 1944-46 when he was in the military) until 1948 and
in later years he participated in many reunions with Basie
alumni. He was on some Jazz at the Philharmonic tours and
recorded in the 1950s with Illinois Jacquet, Billie Holiday,
Teddy Wilson, Lester Young, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington among
others; Jones appeared at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival with
both Basie and the Coleman Hawkins-Roy Eldridge Sextet. Jo Jones
led sessions for Vanguard (1955 and 1959) and Everest (1959-60),
a date for Jazz Odyssey on which he reminisced and played drum
solos (1970) and mid-'70s sessions for Pablo and Denon. In later
years he was known as "Papa" Jo Jones and thought of
as a wise if brutally frank elder statesman. By Scott Yanow
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