Philly Joe Jones

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Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (* 15. July 1923 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ; † the thirtieth August 1985 ) was an American jazz - drummer . The nickname Philly Joe refers to his hometown, Philadelphia called "Philly" in American vernacular, and is intended to distinguish the drummer from his equally famous older colleague "Papa" Jo Jones from Count Basie's band .

Live and act

Philly Joe Jones emerged from the rhythm and blues tradition of the late 1940s, before he began working as a drummer in modern jazz - although it should be noted that the two styles of music were not as clearly separated from each other then as they were later. While still in Philadelphia he accompanied John Coltrane and Benny Golson . In 1947 he settled in New York City, where he played as the house drummer for Cafe Society with Charlie Parker , Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie . He then worked at Ben Webster , Joe Morris , Tiny Grimes , Lionel Hampton , with mentor Tadd Dameron and Tony Scott .

Between 1955 and 1958 he was a defining part of the rhythm section of the Miles Davis quintet and later sextet. Davis broke up with Jones not for musical reasons (on the contrary, he called him, like Bill Evans later , his preferred drummer), but solely because of the unreliability that the drummer's serious drug problems brought to the professional work of the band. Nevertheless, Jones was involved in countless recordings ( Blue Note , Riverside, Prestige) because his sense of drive , dynamism and taste were in great demand. Under the sensitive swing of his cymbal work , he set highly complex accents on the snare drum and its rim, which expanded the playing concept on the instrument.

Jones' contributions to the development of drumming are numerous and in turn formed the basis for further innovations, as they were initiated in the free jazz environment of the 1960s by musicians such as Tony Williams and (not related to "Philly Joe") Elvin Jones . Particularly well-known is the characteristic two beat feel with which the drummer, in interaction with the double bass player Paul Chambers, often underlined the introduction of the theme of the wind instruments. He also led his own groups. After playing briefly with Davis again in 1962, he went to the West Coast in 1964 before living in Europe between 1967 and 1972, where he directed several drum schools, but also played and recorded with traveling musicians such as Archie Shepp . Back in the USA, he founded the jazz rock group Le Grand Prix to then accompany Bill Evans and Red Garland . With the group Dameronia he recalled the music of Tadd Dameron.

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SURNAME Jones, Philly Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jones, Joseph Rudolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz drummer
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 1985
Place of death Philadelphia