ABSTRACT
American jazz trumpeter, born Robert Elliott Jones in Louisville, Kentucky. He played on a Mississippi riverboat, and with various groups, and joined the Stuff Smith combo in 1932. He recorded on Vocalion with Smith, and on Okeh with Cab Calloway, a partner for 10 years (e.g., “Jonah Joins the Cab,” #6109; 1941). He was a sensation in Europe in 1954, and made a fine recording of “Chinatown” with a group that included Sidney Bechet. Jones gained great success when he formed his own quartet in 1955 and performed at the Embers in New York. “Rose Room” (Capitol F3747; 1957) was a major hit. Jones remained with Capitol through 1963, churning out popular recordings, and then recorded for Decca from 1965 to 1967. Jones later had a quintet; he was on television and toured abroad from the 1960s through the 1980s. He died in New York City. Jones’s early recordings are available on 1936-1945 (Classics 972); and his Capitol era hits are anthologized on I Dig Jonah (Collectors Choice 108).
