Reunald Jones

Reunald Jones Sr. (* 22. December 1910 in Indianapolis , † 26. February 1989 ) was an American jazz - trumpet , which mainly in big bands was busy and as a studio musician.

Reunald Jones graduated from the Michigan Conservatory and began his career in territory bands like Speed ​​Webb . During the Great Depression he went to New York; There he worked in the orchestras of Charlie Johnson , the Savoy Bearcats , Fess Williams , Chick Webb (1933/1934), Mezz Mezzrow , Sam Wooding , Claude Hopkins , Willie Bryant , Teddy Hill , Don Redman (1936 ) in the 1930s and 1940s until 1938), Erskine Hawkins , in the Duke Ellington Orchestra (1946), Jimmie Lunceford , Lucky Millinder and with Sy Oliver , but was rarely heard as a soloist. From 1952 to 1957 he was lead trumpeter in the Count Basie Orchestra , in which he achieved fame less through solos than through his one-handed solo style. During this time he worked on Basie's albums such as Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings .

Jones was then also a member of a formation by Quincy Jones , called The Jones Boys (1956-58), which had been organized by Leonard Feather , played in the musicians named Jones who were not related. From the 1940s onwards he mostly worked as a studio musician and worked a. a. participated in recordings by Ella Fitzgerald , Paul Quinichette (1956), Sonny Rollins (1958) and Sonny Stitt (1962). He also went on tour with Woody Herman's orchestra in 1959 , played in George Shearing's big band in 1960 and in the accompanying orchestra of Nat King Cole from 1961 to 1964 , during whose recordings he was occasionally heard as a soloist ("Sweet Lorraine").

From the 1970s onwards he barely emerged as an active musician. His son, Reunald Jones Jr, played lead trumpet with Sammy Davis Jr and James Brown for several years, and his grandson Renny Jones is a bass guitarist.

Web links

• Scott Yanow , Reunald Jones at Allmusic
• Jazz & Ragtime in Indiana ( Memento from January 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive )