Since I last wrote about Ellington Reflections on the website, Steven has managed to publish two new posts. One about Shorty Baker and one about Jimmy Jones. Even if I am a big fan of Shorty Baker, the one about Jones is more interesting for me because I learn a lot from it and I am sure I am not the only one. And Duke’s words about Jones in Music Is My Mistress, that Steven quotes, say a lot about his importance in the Ellington context.
Steven starts his portrait with two recordings by Jimmy Jones’ Big Eight on HRS with Jones from Jan. 10, 1947 – Old Juice on the Loose and A Woman’s Got a Right to Change her Mind. Half of the band are Ellingtonians in the strict sense – Lawrence Brown, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney and Billy Taylor Sr.
Stevens’s next choices are Come Sunday and New World A’ Coming from March 4, 1947. They were recorded by the WAX label like many recordings by Jones during this period.
Come Sunday is recorded by a quartet with Jones together with Otto Hardwick, Al Casey and Al Hall and the second with a trio with Jimmy Jones piano, John Levy bass and Denzil Best drums. Some discographies give the date for Come Sunday as April 17, 1947 and Denzil Best out.
Three recordings also originally on the WAX label comes next in the program – New York City Blues, On a Turquoise Cloud and Bakiff.
After 1947, Jimmy Jones started to work a lot as Sarah Vaughan’s accompanist and in the early 1950’s with Count Basie groups. However, this is outside the realm of Steven’s blog so next program is Hello Little Girl with Jimmy Rushing and Dizzy Gillespie from the Jazz Party album on Columbia recorded February 19, 1959.
After the Jazz Party, Steven let us hear about the collaboration between Ella Fitzgerald and Jimmy Jones, which came about because of Norman Grantz. The music is from the 1966 Côte d’Azure Jazz Festival and Steven lets us hear Satin Doll from one of Ella’ performances at the Festival and the rehearsal of The Old Circus Train when Jones replaced Ellington at the piano.
Jones also replaced Ellington in the recording of the Reprise album Francis A. & Edward K and Steven makes the good choice to let us listen to I Like the Sunrise from the 1967 album.
Steven’s last selection is Jimmy Jones’s last recording. He participated in the recordings of Kenny Burrell’s Ellington Is Forever and Steven has selected In a Mellotone to end the program.
I hope that like other fans of Ellington Reflections have enjoyed the program like me and will listen to the many records with Jones available.
Author: Ulf Lundin