Jonah Jones

Jonah Jones
Jones, ca. March 1947
Background information
Birth name	Robert Elliott Jones
Also known as	King Louis II
Born	(1909-12-31)December 31, 1909 Louisville, Kentucky United States
Died	April 28, 2000(2000-04-28) (aged 90)
Genres	Jazz, swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Trumpet, alto saxophone
Years active	1920s- 2000
Labels	Capitol, Decca, Motown
Associated acts	Stuff Smith, Cab Calloway

Jonah Jones (born Robert Elliott Jones; December 31, 1909 – April 29, 2000) was a jazz trumpeter who created concise versions of jazz and swing and jazz standards that appealed to a mass audience. In the jazz community, it can be argued that he might be best appreciated for his work with Stuff Smith. He was sometimes referred to as "King Louis II," a reference to Louis Armstrong. Jones started playing alto saxophone at the age of 12 in the Booker T. Washington Community Center band in Louisville, Kentucky before quickly transitioning to trumpet, where he excelled.

Jones was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Jones began his career playing on a river boat named Island Queen, which traveled between Kentucky and Ohio. He began in the 1920s playing on Mississippi riverboats and then in 1928 he joined with Horace Henderson. Later he worked with Jimmie Lunceford and had an early collaboration with Stuff Smith in 1932. From 1932 to 1936 he had a successful collaboration with Smith, but in the 1940s he worked in big bands like Benny Carter's and Fletcher Henderson's. He would spend most of decade with Cab Calloway's band which later became a combo.

Starting in the 1950s, he had his own quartet and began concentrating on a formula which gained him wider appeal for a decade. The quartet consisted of George "River Rider" Rhodes on piano, John "Broken Down" Browne on bass and "Hard Nuts Harold" Austin on drums. The most-mentioned accomplishment of this style is their version of "On The Street Where You Live", a strong-swinging treatment of the Broadway tune with a boogie-woogie jump blues feel. This effort succeeded and he began to be known to a wider audience. This led to his quartet performing on An Evening With Fred Astaire in 1958 and an award at the Grammy Awards of 1960, receiving the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. In 1972 he made a return to more "core" jazz work with Earl Hines on the Chiaroscuro Album "Back On The Street". Jones enjoyed especial popularity in France, being featured in a jazz festival in the Salle Pleyel.