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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Obituary Johnny Jones, 1936-2009

Posted by Jim Ridley on Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:17 AM

click to enlarge johnny_2Bjones.jpg
A vital piece of Nashville's R&B history fell silent yesterday with the death of legendary blues guitarist Johnny Jones. The longtime frontman, sideman and guitar slinger was found dead at his apartment yesterday morning by exterminators. He was 73. Jones was an integral part of the Music City R&B scene chronicled in the Country Music Hall of Fame's 2004 Night Train to Nashville exhibit. That project's Grammy-winning CD compilation and its sequel introduced a new audience to Jones' historic recordings, made with famed Nashville producer/songwriter/label owner Ted Jarrett in the 1960s. It was Jarrett who pulled Jones out of a house band in Clarksville, Tenn., where he was then backing female impersonators, and gave him gigs backing Nashville R&B hitmakers Gene Allison and Earl Gaines. In an interview earlier this year with the Scene, Jones credited Jarrett with exposing him to a whole world beyond 12-bar blues. "He had enough insight to see my potential," Jones said. "I'm a blues man, had a blues foundation. But Nashville was country, jazz and gospel, and Ted was behind all the local stuff. During this process, man, Ted taught me how to read music and showed me all this other music. Most blues artists my age don't have that kind of background." Much music lore surrounds Jones' early mentorship of Jimi Hendrix while the young guitar hot-shot was prowling Nashville R&B clubs after his discharge from Fort Campbell. The two faced off in a famous head-cutting match at Nashville's Club Baron in the early '60s heyday of the Jefferson Street club scene, and Jones replaced Hendrix in the King Casuals combo, which also featured Hendrix's future Band of Gypsies bassist Billy Cox (now a Nashville businessman). They both appeared on the locally produced 1960s TV series Night Train, where Jones played in the house band. In the mid-1990s, a series of Music City soul reissues reignited interest in Jones' career, especially in Europe. He became active again as a bandleader, recording artist and touring attraction, and the Night Train exhibit cemented his standing as a cornerstone of the city's R&B heritage. But he maintained right up to his death that he never knew those early recordings would stand the test of time. "That's the irony of American history," Jones said. "When you're making it, you don't really see it." He made those comments to the Scene last March, on the sad occasion of Ted Jarrett's death at age 83. At the time, he said that the last time he'd seen his friend and mentor was a few months earlier, "and he was lookin' kind of puny." But he said he didn't see Jarrett's death as a loss. "He lives in me," Jones said, "and everybody he came into contact with." He ended his comments with what sounded like an offhand remark at the time, but now sounds sadly like foresight. "You never know how sick a man really is," Johnny Jones said.

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I am very sad. I am honored to have played drums with Johnny on so many great occasion. One in particularly the The Montreal 25 Anniversary Jazz Festival in 2004 Montreal Canada. He was a great man and friend. What a sad loss.
I will miss you Brother Johnny
God Bless You and Your Family
DD

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Posted by Danny Darling on October 15, 2009 at 1:43 PM

Dammit, Jim, it's about time you became editor of the Scene. Finally, someone who can write about something besides politics.

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Posted by senor on October 15, 2009 at 3:44 PM

Johnny was a great musician, and even more than that, he was a great person. I always looked forward to seeing him play and getting to talk to him. He was always smiling too.
I will be doing a tribute to Johnny Jones on my Spoonful radio show this Sunday afternoon, between 4-6pm on WRVU 91.1FM. I have lots of Johnny's recordings from early instrumentals to his most recent live album, plus some live radio show performances from Europe.
If anyone knows any further information about funeral arrangements, a live tribute, or anything further it would be great if you could post the information here.

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Posted by DJ Mojo on October 16, 2009 at 11:28 AM

Johnny, a great bluesman,sweet person with a never ending smile..WILL BE MISSED SADLY,,GOD BLESS

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Posted by k shannon on October 17, 2009 at 2:19 PM

i rememder night train,noble blackwell,ironing board sam and others.
do any kinos or tapes survive?

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Posted by eric on October 18, 2009 at 11:18 PM

I remember back in 1999, I think, when I first met Johnny Jones. I was playing with the house band at the Elks Club on Jefferson Street, and we asked Johnny Jones to sit in using my amp. He used his guitar, but he wouldn't mess with my amp, so the first song he was too soft, I came up and turned my amp up, and he said, "I just don't like messing with somebody else's stuff." I played with Johnny Jones since that time 15 to 20 times, and he was always a pleasure to work with, and was always very polite, and always played well. He was the real deal, a guitarist we all could learn from."

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Posted by Rickey Godfrey on October 20, 2009 at 10:19 PM

I'm guessing this content was published after a fair amount of basic research.

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Posted by Chuck Freidkin on March 14, 2010 at 12:54 PM

It’s easier to keep out of the conversation and not take the chance of being misunderstood.

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Posted by Elwood Lowthert on March 18, 2010 at 8:07 PM
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