Reunald Jones Sr. (December 22, 1910 – February 26, 1989), was an American jazz trumpeter, who worked in big bands and as a studio musician. He played lead trumpet with the

Count Basie Orchestra The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16- to 18-piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 19 ...

(1952–57).

Career

A native of

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, United States, he studied at the Michigan Conservatory and then played with territory bands such as that of

Speed Webb Lawrence Arthur "Speed" Webb (18 July 1906 – 4 November 1994) was an American jazz drummer and territory band leader especially active in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Biography Webb first began playing on violin and mellophone before ...

. In the 1930s and 1940s, Jones worked with Charlie Johnson, Savoy Bearcats, Fess Williams,

Chick Webb William Henry "Chick" Webb (February 10, 1905 – June 16, 1939) was an American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader. Early life Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William H. and Marie Webb. The year of his birth is disputed. The ...

(1933–34),

Sam Wooding Samuel David Wooding (17 June 1895–1 August 1985) was an American jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader living and performing in Europe and the United States. Career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, between 1921 and 19 ...

Claude Hopkins Claude Driskett Hopkins (August 24, 1903 – February 19, 1984) was an American jazz stride pianist and bandleader. Biography Claude Hopkins was born in Alexandria, Virginia, United States. Historians differ in respect of the actual date of his ...

, Willie Bryant, Teddy Hill,

Don Redman Donald Matthew Redman (July 29, 1900 – November 30, 1964) was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader, and composer. Biography Redman was born in Piedmont, Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. His father was a music teacher ...

(1936–38),

Erskine Hawkins Erskine Ramsay Hawkins (July 26, 1914 – November 11, 1993) was an American trumpeter and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is best remembered for composing the jazz standard " Tuxedo Junction" ( ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

(1946),

Jimmie Lunceford James Melvin Lunceford (June 6, 1902 – July 12, 1947) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era. Early life Lunceford was born on a farm in the Evergreen community, west of the Tombigbee River, near Fulton, ...

Lucky Millinder Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American swing music, swing and rhythm and blues, rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang ...

and

Sy Oliver Melvin James "Sy" Oliver (December 17, 1910 – May 28, 1988) was an American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader. Life Sy Oliver was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. His mother was a piano teacher, and his f ...

. He soloed sparingly after his time with Chick Webb. From 1956–1958, Jones was a member of the

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

band The Jones Boys, a session conceived by

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

with musicians named "Jones", though none of them were related. Beginning in the 1940s, Jones worked as a studio musician. He toured with

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American 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 roo ...

(1959),

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing (13 August 191914 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 so ...

's big band (1960) and with an orchestra accompanying

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

(1961–64). He played less from the 1970s. His son, Reunald Jones Jr., played trumpet for

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which t ...

and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

, and his grandson, Renny Jones, is a bass guitarist. Reunald Jones died in February 1989, at the age of 78.

Discography

As leader

* '' The Jones Boys'' with Eddie Jones, Jimmy Jones,

Jo Jones Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes k ...

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Early life, family and education Thad Jones was born i ...

(Period, 1957)

As sideman

* '' Dance Session'' (Clef, 1953) * '' Basie Jazz'' (Clef, 1954) * '' Basie'' (Clef, 1955) * '' The Count!'' (Clef, 1955) * '' Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings'' (Clef, 1955) * '' Dance Session Album#2'' (Columbia, 1956) * '' Metronome All-Stars 1956'' (Clef, 1956) * ''

The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards ''The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards'' is an album by vocalist Joe Williams and pianist/bandleader Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded in 1956 and released on the Verve label.April in Paris'' (Verve, 1957) * '' Basie in London'' (Verve, 1957) * '' Count Basie at Newport'' (Verve, 1957) * ''

One O'Clock Jump "One O'Clock Jump" is a jazz standard; a 12-bar blues instrumental, written by Count Basie in 1937. Background The melody derived from band members' riffs—Basie rarely wrote down musical ideas, so Eddie Durham and Buster Smith helped him c ...

'' (Verve, 1957) * ''Basie Rides Again!'' (Verve, 1957) * ''

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

'' (Verve, 1959) * ''A Portrait of an Orchestra'' (Verve, 1965) * ''Count at the Organ'' (Verve, 1965) * ''Inside Basie Outside'' (VSP, 1966) With

* ''At the Cocoanut Grove'' (Reprise, 1961) * ''Recorded Live'' (Reprise, 1963) * ''That's All!'' (Reprise, 1967) With others *

Gene Ammons Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and R ...

, '' Free Again'' (Prestige, 1972) *

Cat Anderson William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson (September 12, 1916 – April 29, 1981) was an American jazz trumpeter known for his long period as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra and for his wide range, especially his ability to play in the altissimo regis ...

, ''Cat On a Hot Tin Horn'' (Mercury, 1958) *

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

& Count Basie & Joe Williams, ''One O'Clock Jump'' (Verve, 1957) *

, ''The Fourth Herd'' (Jazzland, 1960) * Woody Herman, ''Woody Herman & the Fourth Herd'' (Windmill, 1972) *

, ''The Golden Swing Years'' (Storyville, 1968) * Letta Mbulu, ''There's Music in the Air'' (A&M, 1977) *

Paul Quinichette Paul Quinichette (May 17, 1916 – May 25, 1983) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was known as the "Vice President" or "Vice Prez" for his emulation of the breathy style of Lester Young, whose nickname was "The President", or simply "P ...

, ''The Kid from Denver'' (Dawn, 1956) * George Rhodes, ''Porgy and Bess'' (AAMCO, 1959) *

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

, ''Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass'' (MetroJazz, 1958) *

Sonny Stitt Sonny Stitt (born Edward Hammond Boatner Jr.; February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982) was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his era, recording over ...

, '' Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass'' (Atlantic, 1962) *

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (; born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a ...

, ''Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller'' (Mercury/Emarcy, 1959)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Reunald 1910 births 1989 deaths American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Count Basie Orchestra members 20th-century American musicians Musicians from Indiana American male jazz musicians 20th-century American male musicians