Claude Jones

For nearly 30 years, Claude Jones was a reliable trombonist who was both a fine soloist and a valuable section player in big bands. The future brother-in-law of <a href="spotify:artist:3wjEknI2VOYTXX19XYM6hC">Quentin Jackson</a>, Jones began playing trombone (after some trumpet and drum lessons) when he was 13. After attending Wilberforce College for a time, Jones dropped out in 1922 and joined the Synco Jazz Band (an ancestor of <a href="spotify:artist:5I3S4y3G5KQ6M5DUqxM3wD">McKinney's Cotton Pickers</a>). He played off and on with the group into 1929. Jones gained some recognition for his work with <a href="spotify:artist:2ovJLSejirvJybNers2YG6">Fletcher Henderson</a> (1929-1931). He worked with a variety of top swing bands including <a href="spotify:artist:4xgDy82aqLHAG2Is3ELRWv">Don Redman</a> (1931-1933), back with Henderson (1933-1934), Alex Hill and <a href="spotify:artist:7AgtFmxbJL1wDbp7yYrzQb">Chick Webb</a> before settling in for a stretch with <a href="spotify:artist:03cwCzIWQ8BRmXjGPDAL04">Cab Calloway</a> (1934-1940). In the early '40s Jones played with the <a href="spotify:artist:0JM134st8VY7Ld9T2wQiH0">Coleman Hawkins</a> big band, <a href="spotify:artist:29gFISSJO4GdOPOBFgXL3b">Zutty Singleton</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4GDQve2gu5EObSXCqj8xIY">Joe Sullivan</a>, Henderson a third time (1941-1942), <a href="spotify:artist:5dlCVmfRbWVGOJYHzGyk32">Benny Carter</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4xgDy82aqLHAG2Is3ELRWv">Don Redman</a> (1943), a second period with <a href="spotify:artist:3MKSm2U72NzNdxRjMhzyHh">Calloway</a> and then <a href="spotify:artist:4F7Q5NV6h5TSwCainz8S5A">Duke Ellington</a> (1944-1948). Jones had more opportunities to solo with <a href="spotify:artist:2ovJLSejirvJybNers2YG6">Henderson's Orchestra</a> then he did with the other bands and he was underutilized during his <a href="spotify:artist:4F7Q5NV6h5TSwCainz8S5A">Ellington</a> years. After working with Henderson's Sextet in 1950 and briefly with <a href="spotify:artist:4F7Q5NV6h5TSwCainz8S5A">Duke</a> in 1951, he became a mess steward aboard the S.S. United States, passing away at sea 11 years later. In addition to his many records with Henderson, the 1928-1929 version of <a href="spotify:artist:5I3S4y3G5KQ6M5DUqxM3wD">McKinney's Cotton Pickers</a> and most of the other big bands with which he had stints, Claude Jones made recordings with Connie's Inn Orchestra (1931), <a href="spotify:artist:4XepUkisa56DUeA3gbjDQD">Jelly Roll Morton</a> (1939), and <a href="spotify:artist:19eLuQmk9aCobbVDHc6eek">Louis Armstrong</a>-<a href="spotify:artist:1RsmXc1ZqW3WBs9iwxiSwk">Sidney Bechet</a> (1940) although never as a leader. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi