Max Jones (journalist)
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Ronald Maxwell Jones (28 February 1917, London – 2 August 1993,
Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...
) was a British
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
author, radio host and journalist.


Life and achievements

Together with his brother Cliff, Jones taught himself to play the
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
, before the two of them founded a dance band in 1930. Named "Campus Club Dance Band" it was
semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...
and when it was dissolved in 1935, Jones tried to establish himself as a professional musician, becoming a member of a combo led by
trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
Johnny Claes Octave John Claes (; 11 August 1916 – 3 February 1956) was a British-born racing driver who competed for Belgium. Before his fame as a racing driver, Claes was also a jazz trumpeter and successful bandleader in Britain. Early life and jazz ...
, with musicians who played in the style of
Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first ...
. In 1942 and 1943, Jones worked for the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
radio programme ''Radio Rhythm Club''; and in 1942, together with authors Albert McCarthy and Charles Fox, he founded the magazine ''Jazz Music'', Steve Voce
"Obituary: Max Jones"
''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 4 August 1993.
which became meritorious as it set out "to reassert the pioneering role of the
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
, to emphasise the music’s social dimensions, and to attack the glossy
commercialism Commercialism is the application of both manufacturing and consumption towards personal usage, or the practices, methods, aims, and distribution of products in a free market geared toward generating a profit. Commercialism can also refer, positi ...
of big-band swing". Starting in 1944, Jones had a full-time job writing features for the British weekly music magazine ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' in the column "Collectors’ Corner". In the years following he gained recognition as a proven expert on New Orleans Jazz, swing, and
mainstream jazz Mainstream jazz is a term coined in the 1950s by music journalist Stanley Dance, who considered anything within the popular jazz of the Swing Era "mainstream",McRae, Barry. 2005. "Sound Investment: Mainstream." ''Jazz Journal International'', A ...
. A collection of his articles on musicians such as Coleman Hawkins,
Johnny Hodges Johnny Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophone, alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on sop ...
,
Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...
, and
Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and ...
was published as a book entitled ''Talking Jazz'' in 1987. In 1971 Jones published a
Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
biography, ''Louis: The Louis Armstrong Story'', together with John Chilton. Jones also wrote a number of
liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
, such as for the CD edition of the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band and the Spirits of Rhythm. Jones was the first jazz musician to become a professional journalist. Although he dealt exclusively with jazz in his publications, he was a model and a mentor for a younger generation of
rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
critics and authors.John Shepherd: ''Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Vol. 1: Media, Industry and Society'', p. 305. Jones was married to Betty Salberg and had one son.


Publications

* ''LOUIS: The Louis Armstrong Story, 1900–1971'' (with John Chilton), Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 1971. * ''LOUIS: The Louis Armstrong Story 1900–1971'' (with John Chilton; new preface by Dan Morgenstern), New York City: Da Capo Press, 1988. * ''TALKING JAZZ'', London: MacMillan, 1987. * ''JAZZ TALKING: Profiles, Interviews & Other Riffs'' (new preface by Stanley Dance), New York City: Da Capo Press, 2000. * Lee Collins, Mary Spriggs Collins, Frank Gillis, John W. Miner, ''Oh, Didn't He Ramble: The Life Story of Lee Collins'' (preface by Max Jones).


References


External links

* http://www.maxjonesarchive.uk
short bio
in
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

obituary in The Independent


In 1988, Max Jones conducted a live radio interview with the jazz legend
Adelaide Hall Adelaide Louise Hall (20 October 1901 – 7 November 1993) was an American-born UK-based jazz singer and entertainer. Her career spanned more than 70 years from 1921 until her death. Early in her career, she was a major figure in the Harlem Ren ...
. Transcripts from the taped recording, which is housed in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
, are available to listen to upon request. Three selections from the recording can be heard in the article (published 17 December 2020) on the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
blog. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Max 1917 births 1993 deaths Jazz writers English radio presenters English jazz saxophonists British male saxophonists Musicians from London English biographers English music journalists Dance band bandleaders 20th-century British biographers 20th-century English musicians 20th-century British saxophonists 20th-century British male musicians British male jazz musicians