Personnel:
Jonah Jones (tp, vcl), Teddy Brannon (p), John Brown (b), 'Pops' Foster (d)
Reference: BMCD 848
Bar code: 8427328008488
JONAH JONES MASTERWORKS
The Capitol Years
· Collectors Edition
· Issued in Digipack
· 2 LPs on 1 CD
· Original Cover Art and Liner Notes
· Hi-Fi and Stereo Recordings
· Newly Remastered
Jonah Jones zoomed to popularity in the late 50s. He found a successful formula and used it to brighten the hit charts with a succession of bouncy albums on Capitol Records. His quartet was one of the three newcomers in the Top 10 wide variety of small groups listed in the favorite Instrumental Billboard lists in 1958.
This was a time when rock and roll styled disks were flooding the singles record market, jazz combos were having big pop single hits, and Jonah Jones albums were among the most played by the nations disc jockeys on radio shows throughout the country. Theres little doubt that in the 1960s jazz and pop music were drawing closer together than they had been for years, and Jonah Jones was one of the best-selling artists in the business.
"I'm going to find this album very difficult to remove from my CD player! From the moment Jonah's big buttery sound filled the room I was hooked.
Warm toned and with a lively vibrato Jonah's swinging playing would suit fans of Harry 'Sweets' Edison and Buck Clayton to a tee. Seemingly simple big swinging phrases and fiery dextrous soloing, both open and in a range of very enviable mutes, show just what a star of the trumpet Jonah Jones really is.
This CD features two albums, Swingin 'Round the World and Jumpin with a Shuffle, a total of 24 delicious well-known standard tracks recorded in 1958 and 1960. Although both CD's feature just a trio with Jonah on trumpet and occasional husky-toned vocal, the accompanying trio are toe-tappingly light, swinging and tasteful, with the feel veering more towards jump jive... dare I say 'rock and roll' on tracks 13-24. Each track is no more than two and a half minutes long but this provides ample time for Jonah's infectiously joyful trumpet playing to become something you want to listen to time and again. I'd like the other six CD's now please!"
Georgina Jackson *
The Jazz Rag (October, 2014)
(*) Like Jonah Jones, Georgina Jackson began as a big band trumpeter, but has built a reputation by singing and playing the great standards, as suggested by her show, Peggy, Duke and Benny.
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-Swingin' 'Round the World
"Due to his two big hits in 1957, 1958 was a busy year for trumpeter/vocalist Jonah Jones, who recorded five albums for Capitol, including this final effort. Most of Jones' dates were based around themes, and in this case he performed 11 songs having something to do with cities, countries or travel, including "Arrivederci Roma," "A Foggy Day," "Brazil," "Chicago," "Manhattan" and "Song of the Islands." Some of the songs are better served by Jones than others, and his formula with his quartet (which also included pianist Teddy Brannon, bassist John Brown and drummer George Foster) was just starting to run a little thin, although it would continue for another decade."
-Jumpin' with a Shuffle
"Trumpeter/vocalist Jonah Jones was at the peak of his popularity when he recorded this album while appearing in Las Vegas. Sticking mostly to standards rather than songs dug up for a particular concept, this is one of Jones' strongest albums from the Capitol years. With suitable if predictable support from pianist Teddy Brannon, bassist John Brown and drummer George Foster, Jones swings his way through such numbers as "Lazy River," "920 Special," "On the Sunny Side of the Street" and "My Monday Date."
Both by Scott Yanow -All Music Guide
