Harold Jones (drummer)


Harold Jones is an American traditional pop and jazz drummer who is best known as the drummer for Tony Bennett and for his five years with the Count Basie Orchestra.
In a career spanning six decades, Jones has toured and recorded with Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, B.B. King, Ray Charles and Tony Bennett. He has also played with major symphony orchestras, including those in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vienna.

Career

Born and raised in Richmond, Indiana, Jones's parents encouraged his childhood musical development. Already a skilled drummer by high school, his mother drove him to Indianapolis, Indiana, to perform with Wes Montgomery, who left the stage with his band while Jones played a twenty-minute drum solo.
He attended the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago on a scholarship, then started his career as a freelance musician. In 1967, while house drummer at the Chicago Playboy Club, he was invited to New York for what was intended to be a two-week engagement with Count Basie's orchestra but which lasted five years. Jones played on fifteen albums with Basie. He also appears in a scene featuring the Basie band in the movie Blazing Saddles.
Jones says he was an avid student of other drummers, but he was especially influenced by one of Basie's drummers. "I am proud to say that I took everything that I could from Sonny Payne," he told an interviewer.
After leaving the Basie band, Jones was much in demand. He toured with Ella Fitzgerald, then for ten years with Sarah Vaughan. He also toured and recorded with Natalie Cole, including on her album Unforgettable... with Love. In 1962, he was a member of the Paul Winter Sextet, the first jazz group to play at the White House since the 1920s. The group had finished a tour of Latin America on behalf of United States Cultural Exchange Programs. Jones has played at the White House five times. In 2004, Jones joined Tony Bennett as his drummer for recordings and touring. He stayed with him until Bennett retired in 2021. Still a touring drummer, Jones also teaches drumming at college workshops.

Personal life

Jones has lived for many years with his second wife Denise in Woodacre, California. The pair married June 9, 1983, and they have a son. Jones married his first wife, Paulette, in 1961. During their ten-year marriage they had a son and a daughter: Jay and Joy.
Jones's brother, Melvyn "Deacon" Jones, was a blues and soul organist.

Awards and accolades

In 2013 Jones was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame. In 1972 he won Best New Artist in the Down Beat magazine critics' poll. Saxophonist and band leader Paul Winter called Jones "the personification of jazz." Music critic Bruce H. Klauber has written that, "Jones is the quintessential big-band drummer with a crisp, clean sound notable for the high-pitched snare drum crack." Critic Jess Hamlin called Jones, "One of the best drummers in the business." Basie is said to have told drummer Louie Bellson that "Harold Jones was my favorite drummer."
Jones is the subject of a biography published in 2011, Harold Jones: The Singer's Drummer.

Discography

Unless otherwise noted, Information is based on Harold Jones' AllMusic web page
With Christina AguileraMy Kind of Christmas
With Ernestine AndersonLive at the 1990 Concord Jazz Festival Third Set
With Count BasieBasie Straight Ahead
With Tony BennettDuets: An American Classic A Swingin' Christmas Duets II Viva Duets
With Elvin BishopThe Blues Rolls On
With Raquel BittonSings Edith Piaf Dream a Little Dream
With Richard BooneThe Singer
With Bruce BroughtonMiracle on 34th Street: Original Soundtrack Album
With Red CallenderBasin Street Brass
With Judy Carmichael Two Handed Stride
With Benny Carter'Live and Well in Japan!
With Natalie ColeUnforgettable... with Love Take a Look Holly & Ivy Stardust Snowfall on the Sahara Still Unforgettable
With Michael FeinsteinSuch Sweet Sorrow
With Lady Gaga and Tony BennettCheek to Cheek Love for Sale
With João GilbertoJoão Gilberto and the Stylists of Bossa Nova Sing Antonio Carlos Jobim
With Amy GrantHome for Christmas
With Bunky GreenPlayin' for Keeps
With John HandyCarnival
With Eddie Harris Jazz BandThe Exodus to Jazz Mighty Like a Rose A Study in Jazz
With Gene HarrisBlack and Blue World Tour 1990
With Linda HopkinsDeep in the Night
With Quincy Jones & Sammy Nestico OrchestraBasie and Beyond
With Marian McPartlandPlays the Benny Carter Songbook Silent Pool
With Walter Norris TrioLush Life
With Oscar PetersonSoul Español
With PitbullEl Mariel The Boatlift
With Diane SchuurPure Schuur
With Andy Simpkins QuintetCalamba
With Michael W. SmithChristmastime
With Thomas TalbertLouisiana Suite
With Clark TerryReunion
With John Travolta and Olivia Newton-JohnThis Christmas
With Sarah VaughanCrazy and Mixed Up
With Sarah Vaughan and Los Angeles PhilharmonicGershwin Live!
With Larry Vuckovich and Jon HendricksReunion
With Robbie WilliamsSwing When You're Winning
With Paul Winter SextetJazz Meets the Bossa Nova
With Paul Winter ConsortSpanish Angel
With Amy Winehouse