"A TOUCH OF BLUE"

Original Released on LP Capitol ST 1405
(US, 1962)

Trumpeter/vocalist Jonah Jones recorded so many albums for Capitol from 1957 to 1963 that it was always a challenge to come up with new themes for dates, particularly since Jones' smooth style was largely unchanged from the 1940s. In this case, he performs a dozen songs with "blue" or "blues" in their title, joined by his quartet (with pianist Teddy Brannon, bassist John Brown and drummer George Foster) plus a large chorale of "background" singers. The vocalists definitely get in the way, weighing down Jones' versions of such songs as "I Get the Blues When It Rains," "Blue Turning Grey Over You," "Birth of the Blues," "Blue Skies," etc. A somewhat forgettable record, despite some pleasing moments from the trumpeter.

Will These Two Gals Share The Movie With You?

Original Released on LP Capitol T1083 (mono)

(USA, 1958)

 One in a lengthy series of Capitol albums by trumpeter/vocalist Jonah Jones and His Quartet (there were five in 1958 alone), this set finds Jones looking for gold by performing a dozen numbers that originally debuted in Hollywood movies. There were no hits this time around, but the LP sold fairly well. Jones, joined by pianist George Rhodes, bassist John Brown and drummer Harold Austin, uplifts such tunes as "True Love", "Colonel Bogey March", "Three Coins In the Fountain" and "Lullaby of Broadway".

Jones was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He began his career playing on a river boat named Island Queen, which traveled between Kentucky and Ohio. In the 1920s he was playing on Mississippi riverboats and then in 1928 he joined with Horace Henderson. Later he worked with Jimmie Lunceford and had an early collaboration with Stuff Smith in 1932. From 1932-1936 he had a successful collaboration with Smith, but in the 1940s he worked in big bands like Benny Carter's and Fletcher Henderson's. He would spend most of decade with Cab Calloway's band which later became a combo.

Starting in the 1950s, he had his own quartet and began concentrating on a formula which gained him wider appeal for a decade. The quartet consisted of George "River Rider" Rhodes on piano, John "Broken Down" Browne on bass and "Hard Nuts Harold" Austin on drums. The most-mentioned accomplishment of this style is their version of "On The Street Where You Live", a strong-swinging treatment of the Broadway tune with a boogie-woogie jump blues feel. This effort succeeded and he began to be known to a wider audience. This led to his quartet performing on An Evening With Fred Astaire in 1958 and an award at the Grammy Awards of 1960, receiving the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. In 1972 he made a return to more "core" jazz work with Earl Hines on the Chiaroscuro Album "Back On The Street". Jones enjoyed especial popularity in France, being featured in a jazz festival in the Salle Pleyel.

A 1996 videotaped interview completed by Dan Del Fiorentino was donated to the NAMM oral history Collection in 2010 to preserve his music for future generations. Jones performed in the orchestra pit under the direction of Alexander Smallens and briefly in an onstage musical sequence of Porgy and Bess, starring Cab Calloway. He was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1999 and died the following year in New York City.