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Jimmy Jones on bass for T-Bone Walker


JapanAxe
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A while back I picked up (for 50p each!) a handful of those 'Blues Collection' CDs that originally came with a magazine. I've been listening to the T-Bone Walker one, which features recordings made in 1970 with one Jimmy Jones on bass.

This guy is the mutt's nuts! He nails every approach - arpeggios, walking, riff, funky 16s, triplet fills - with a great tone throughout. I did a bit of googling and I think he was mainly a jazz player who worked with Sidney Bechet: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimmy-jones-mn0000852350/credits

Obviously with a name like that you get lots of spurious hits. Anyone know any more, or have recommendations for further listening?

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The best I have been able to come up with is [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimmy-jones-mn0000852350/credits"]this[/url]. He is credited on a 2002 T-Bone Walker compilation, which features some of the same track titles as on the CS I have.

The Allmusic.com biography says:[color=#000000]
Not to be confused with the prolific pianist, arranger, and composer of the same name, vintage jazz bassist [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimmy-jones-mn0000852350"]Jimmy Jones[/url] played together with soprano saxophonist and clarinetist [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sidney-bechet-mn0000033234"]Sidney Bechet[/url] in the large ensemble known as [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/noble-sissles-swingsters-mn0000345143"]Noble Sissle's Swingsters[/url]. This outfit was active recording for close to a decade beginning in the late '20s, cutting delightful sides such as the lonely "All By Yourself in the Moonlight" and "Basement Blues" (promoted as "low-downer than any low-down blues"), which had to be an assignment of choice for any bassist worth his stuff.[/color][color=#000000]
[url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bechet-mn0000033234"]Bechet[/url] approved of [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jones-mn0000852350"]Jones[/url]' way around a bassline, making use of him in his [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/new-orleans-feetwarmers-mn0001412186"]New Orleans Feetwarmers[/url] group during the '30s. These recordings represent both an essential and fat chunk of [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jones-mn0000852350"]Jones[/url]' larder of recorded sides. Also of much interest are the early tracks made by determined vocalist [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lena-horne-mn0000815575"]Lena Horne[/url], in this case featuring [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jones-mn0000852350"]Jones[/url] fiddling with another low yo-yo, the baritone sax. Another musician that he is not is the Texan sometimes credited as [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/james-famous-jones-mn0000123167"]James "Famous" Jones[/url], who shows up on blues, gospel, and country projects beginning a few decades later.[/color]

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[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1402662533' post='2475738']
[color=#000000]AMG: Another musician that he is [b]not[/b] is the Texan sometimes credited as [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/james-famous-jones-mn0000123167"]James "Famous" Jones[/url], who shows up on blues, gospel, and country projects beginning a few decades later.[/color]
[/quote]

And yet ... the James "Famous" Jones is credited by All Music and other sources as playing on a 1966 T-Bone Walker live album Back On The Scene. Track listing:

1. Good Boy
2. Natural Ball
3. Why Don't My Baby Treat Me Right
4. Further on Up the Road
5. I Used to Be a Good Boy
6. Please Come Back to Me
7. She's My Old Time Used to Be
8. Back on the Scene
9. No Do It Right
10. Baby She's a Hit

JFJ is credited as a 'young but veteran' bass player in a review of an obscure 1993 blues release by John Weston entitled 'So Doggone Blue' ([i]Fat Possum / Evidence[/i]).

It is also alleged that JFJ played bass for bluesman Willie Cobbs who was active into the 1990's. Cobbs is said to have influenced Weston's harp playing, so there's another suggestive connection.

As Jimmy Jones Jr., (another nom de gig) JFJ is credited with an appearance on Freddy Fender's 1976 'Rock 'n' Country' album.

Thinking about it, I reckon James 'Famous' Jones is your man. That said, there's possibly more than one James 'Famous' Jones - there are credits for keyboards, sax, drums, guitar, r'n'b / pop arrangements, engineering, production, cover design and - er - comic books against the same monicker. :)

Edited by skankdelvar
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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1402666810' post='2475795']
Is he the same Jimmy Jones who is a bass voice as well as bassist?
[/quote]

Dear God, the man is multi-talented!

Mind you, there's one [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones"]Jim Jones[/url] we can rule out.

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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1402673463' post='2475881']
[url="http://www.discogs.com/artist/731957-Jimmy-Jones-6"]http://www.discogs.com/artist/731957-Jimmy-Jones-6[/url]
[/quote]
Looks like that's the one then.

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