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Harold Jones (drummer)

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Harold Jones
Performing at the White House in 1962
Performing at the White House in 1962
Background information
Born (1940-02-27) February 27, 1940 (age 84)
Richmond, Indiana, U.S.
GenresJazz, traditional pop, swing
OccupationMusician
InstrumentDrums
Years active1950s–present

Harold Jones (born February 27, 1940) is an American traditional pop and jazz drummer[1][2] who is best known as the drummer for Tony Bennett and for his five years with the Count Basie Orchestra.[3]

In a career spanning six decades, Jones has toured and recorded with Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, B.B. King, Ray Charles and Tony Bennett. He has also played with major symphony orchestras, including those in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vienna.

Career

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Born and raised in Richmond, Indiana, Jones's parents encouraged his childhood musical development.[3] Already a skilled drummer by high school, his mother drove him to Indianapolis, Indiana, to perform with Wes Montgomery, who left the stage with his band while Jones played a twenty-minute drum solo.[4]

He attended the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago on a scholarship, then took work where he could find it, including theaters and night clubs. In 1967, while house drummer at the Chicago Playboy Club, he was invited to New York for what was intended to be a two-week engagement with Count Basie's orchestra but which lasted five years. Jones played on fifteen albums with Basie. He also appears in a scene featuring the Basie band in the movie Blazing Saddles.[5][6]

Jones says he was an avid student of other drummers, but he was especially influenced by one of Basie's drummers. "I am proud to say that I took everything that I could from Sonny Payne," he told an interviewer.[7]

After leaving the Basie band, Jones was much in demand. He toured with Ella Fitzgerald, then for ten years with Sarah Vaughan. He also toured and recorded with Natalie Cole, including on her album Unforgettable... with Love. In 1962, he was a member of the Paul Winter Sextet, the first jazz group to play at the White House since the 1920s.[8][9][10] The group had finished a tour of Latin America on behalf of United States Cultural Exchange Programs.[11] Jones has played at the White House five times.[3] In 2004, Jones joined Tony Bennett as his drummer for recordings and touring. He stayed with him until Bennett retired in 2021.[12] Still a touring drummer, Jones also teaches drumming at college workshops.

Personal life

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Jones has lived for many years with his second wife Denise in Woodacre, California.[5] The pair married June 9, 1983, and they have a son. Jones married his first wife, Paulette, in 1961. During their ten-year marriage they had a son and a daughter: Jay and Joy.[13]

Jones's brother, Melvyn "Deacon" Jones, was a blues and soul organist.[14]

Awards and accolades

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In 2013 Jones was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame. In 1972 he won Best New Artist in the Down Beat magazine critics' poll. Saxophonist and band leader Paul Winter called Jones "the personification of jazz."[15] Music critic Bruce H. Klauber has written that, "Jones is the quintessential big-band drummer with a crisp, clean sound notable for the high-pitched snare drum crack."[1] Critic Jess Hamlin called Jones, "One of the best drummers in the business."[5] Basie is said to have told drummer Louie Bellson that "Harold Jones was my favorite drummer."[13]

Jones is the subject of a biography published in 2011, Harold Jones: The Singer's Drummer.

Discography

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Unless otherwise noted, Information is based on Harold Jones' AllMusic web page[16]

With Christina Aguilera

With Ernestine Anderson

  • Live at the 1990 Concord Jazz Festival Third Set (Concord Records, 1991)

With Count Basie

With Tony Bennett

With Elvin Bishop

  • The Blues Rolls On (Delta Groove, 2008)

With Raquel Bitton

  • Sings Edith Piaf (R.B., 1999)
  • Dream a Little Dream (R.B., 2002)

With Richard Boone

  • The Singer (Storyville, 1988)

With Bruce Broughton

With Red Callender

  • Basin Street Brass (Legend, 1973)

With Judy Carmichael

  • Two Handed Stride (Progressive, 1982)

With Benny Carter

With Natalie Cole

With Michael Feinstein

  • Such Sweet Sorrow (Atlantic Records, 1995)

With Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett

With João Gilberto

  • João Gilberto and the Stylists of Bossa Nova Sing Antonio Carlos Jobim (Cherry Red, 2017)

With Amy Grant

With Bunky Green

With John Handy

With Eddie Harris Jazz Band

With Gene Harris

  • Black and Blue (Concord Records, 1991)
  • World Tour 1990 (Concord Records, 1991)

With Linda Hopkins

  • Deep in the Night (View Video, 2009)

With Quincy Jones & Sammy Nestico Orchestra

  • Basie and Beyond (Warner Bros. Records, 2000)

With Marian McPartland

  • Plays the Benny Carter Songbook (Concord Records, 1990)
  • Silent Pool (Concord Records, 1997)

With Walter Norris Trio

  • Lush Life (Concord Records, 1991)

With Oscar Peterson

With Pitbull

With Diane Schuur

  • Pure Schuur (GRP, 1991)

With Andy Simpkins Quintet

  • Calamba (Discovery, 1989)

With Michael W. Smith

With Thomas Talbert

  • Louisiana Suite (Sea Breeze, 1977)

With Clark Terry

  • Reunion (D'Note Classics, 1995)

With John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

With Sarah Vaughan

With Sarah Vaughan and Los Angeles Philharmonic

With Larry Vuckovich and Jon Hendricks

  • Reunion (Tetrachord, 2004)

With Robbie Williams

With Paul Winter Sextet

  • Jazz Meets the Bossa Nova (Columbia Records, 1962)

With Paul Winter Consort

With Amy Winehouse

References

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  1. ^ a b "Harold Jones". Drummerworld. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  2. ^ "Distinguished Alumnus Harold Jones, Class of 1958". rhsalum.org. Richmond High School Alumni Association. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Girouard, Robert (November 2, 2015). "Count Basie/Tony Bennett Drummer Harold Jones". Modern Drummer. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  4. ^ Jacobs, Gil; Agro, Joe (2011). Harold Jones: The Singer's Drummer. AuthorHouse. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4634-4630-7. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Hamlin, Jesse (September 7, 2004). "Basie disciple pays tribute to 'swingingest of the swingers' only way he knows how: let his sticks fly to that original jazz beat". SFGate. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  6. ^ "Blazing Saddles". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  7. ^ Griffith, Mark. "Harold Jones". www.pas.org. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  8. ^ Tamarkin, Jeff (October 25, 2012). "Paul Winter Sextet Music from Early '60s to Be Released". JazzTimes. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  9. ^ Edward Allan Faine. "The First Jazz Band at the White House" (PDF). Vjm.biz. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  10. ^ "Hickman's Band at the White House". New York Morning Telegraph. May 26, 1920. p. 4.
  11. ^ "Return to Camelot: The Music of the Kennedy Years". WOSU Public Media. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  12. ^ "Harold Jones - In Conversation," Siriusly Sinatra, broadcast 11/1/2022
  13. ^ a b Jacobs, Gil; Agro, Joe (2011). Harold Jones: The Singer's Drummer. AuthorHouse. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-1-4634-4630-7. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  14. ^ Emery, Mike (July 8, 2017). "Blues legend from Richmond dies in California". Pal-Item. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  15. ^ Jacobs, Gil; Agro, Joe (November 4, 2011). Harold Jones: The Singer's Drummer. AuthorHouse. pp. 115–. ISBN 978-1-4634-4629-1. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  16. ^ "Harold Jones - Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
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