has been a supreme accompanist and underrated soloist. He's among the most accomplished sight readers in jazz, and his flexibility and sensitive style have kept him extremely busy cutting sessions and working in various groups and styles ranging from swing to bebop. He's worked with vocalists, played in big bands and done many solo, trio, and combo dates.
Born in 1918 in Vicksburg, Mississippi,
Jones moved with his family to the Detroit area while still a child, and studied piano early, listening carefully to
Art Tatum,
Teddy Wilson,
Earl Hines, and
Fats Waller. He began playing in the midwest at age 13, and worked in territory bands.
Jones met
Lucky Thompson in one of these groups, and
Thompson invited him to New York in 1944 to work with
Hot Lips Page at the Onyx Club.
Jones worked for a while with
John Kirby,
Howard McGhee,
Coleman Hawkins,
Andy Kirk, and
Billy Eckstine, then began touring in 1947. He worked with
Jazz at the Philharmonic, then accompanied
Ella Fitzgerald from 1948 to 1953.
Jones also cut many sessions for
Norman Granz's labels in the late '40s and early '50s, many with
Charlie Parker. He worked and recorded in the '50s with
Artie Shaw,
Benny Goodman,
Lester Young,
Milt Jackson, and
Cannonball Adderley before joining CBS' staff in 1959. He worked on such programs as
The Ed Sullivan Show and stayed with CBS until they disbanded the staff in 1976. He recorded several sessions with Savoy in the mid- and late '50s, playing with
Donald Byrd,
Herbie Mann,
Wendell Marshall, and
Kenny Clarke, among others. He also recorded solo and quartet dates for Epic. His quartet with
Osie Johnson,
Barry Galbraith, and
Milt Hinton became one of New York's busiest during the early '60s, sometimes doing three dates a day. They cut albums for Capitol and ABC in 1958, though
Galbraith missed the ABC sessions.
Jones continued recording at Capitol, Argo, and Impulse in the early '60s, at times working with his brother
Elvin. He made a host of recordings in the '70s. There were solo dates for Trio and Galaxy, and trio sessions for Interface and Concord, among others in the '70s. There were duo dates with
Flanagan for Verve and Galaxy in the late '70s.
Jones served as pianist and conductor for the Broadway musical
Ain't Misbehavin in the late '70s. He also played in the Great Jazz Trio, originally with
Ron Carter and
Tony Williams. (
Buster Williams replaced
Carter on the trio's first recording date.)
Jones continued with the trio into the '80s, though
Eddie Gomez and
Al Foster later became his mates, and
Jimmy Cobb replaced
Foster in 1982. The trio also backed
Art Farmer,
Benny Golson, and
Nancy Wilson.
Jones was the resident pianist at the Cafe Ziegfeld in the early '80s, and toured Japan with
George Duvivier and
Sonny Stitt. He kept his recording blitz going into the digital era. In 1989, he was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. In 2004, he was awarded as an ASCAP Jazz Living Legend; five years later, he received a National Medal of Arts; and in 2009,
Jones earned a Lifetime Achievement award at the Grammys. One year later, he died in the Bronx while in hospice, just a few weeks after returning from performance dates in Japan.
–
Ron Wynn, Rovi