tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6039237124600133753.post9195605541758905561..comments2024-02-20T09:51:05.036-05:00Comments on Music for Drummers: Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones - A ReviewMike Tarranihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00913542775337600817noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6039237124600133753.post-64792559889796974842022-05-02T20:00:46.068-04:002022-05-02T20:00:46.068-04:00I played a few times with Jo Jones Jr. usually in ...I played a few times with Jo Jones Jr. usually in the company of Junior Cook. I have a recording of one gig we played at The Jazz Cultural Theater on December 29, 1985 under Jo's name. In the group is Junior Cook, myself on piano and Larry Gales on bass. Clarence Sharpe sat in.<br />In the early 1980s Jo Jones Jr. used to run the jam sessions at Barbara's and the Jazz Forum.<br /><br />Michael WeissMichael Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11327085886544907484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6039237124600133753.post-19465242136962641842012-07-20T15:09:04.836-04:002012-07-20T15:09:04.836-04:00Louis, I cannot thank you enough for those comment...Louis, I cannot thank you enough for those comments. Any other pieces of information about Jo Jones, jr would be greatly appreciated. In fact, I did not know of him until I came across your article I referenced above.Mike Tarranihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00913542775337600817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6039237124600133753.post-69290763455299584732012-07-20T15:01:52.459-04:002012-07-20T15:01:52.459-04:00I found myself in a somewhat similar situation to ...I found myself in a somewhat similar situation to De Felitta in 1967 when as a welfare worker in Harlem I was assigned the case of Jonathan Jones Jr., son of Count Basie’s drummer Jo Jones and a drummer himself. Jo Jones Jr. had just come out of drug rehab and I did everything I could to help him get his feet on the ground, even getting his drums out of hock. When my higher-ups told me that they could not pay for this, I “cheated” the taxpayers by filing a false claim on his behalf for new bedsprings and pots and pans so he could pay for his drums.<br /><br />Jo Jones Jr. was always on the cusp of making it big. Just after Clifford Brown told him that he wanted him to join his band, he died in an auto accident. After he got his drums back, he began gigging again and I made every effort to watch him perform and give him encouragement. On date was particularly memorable. He told me that his trio got a job at mafia bar in Newark and it would be worth a trip out, especially since he had lined up Duke Jordan to play piano (Les Spann played guitar). It was very likely that Jackie Paris played with Jordan himself, since he was Charlie Parker’s pianist on many gigs. He also wrote the jazz standard “Jordu” that Clifford Brown and countless others have recorded. In 1967, Duke Jordan was not making a living as a jazz pianist. He was driving a school bus in Brooklyn, victim of the same blind market forces as Jackie Paris.Louis Proyecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08876739966025806002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6039237124600133753.post-65476339084100720202012-07-20T14:59:57.437-04:002012-07-20T14:59:57.437-04:00I wonder whatever happened to Jo Jones Jr., if he ...I wonder whatever happened to Jo Jones Jr., if he is still alive. I was very friendly with Jo Jo, as he called himself, in the 60s when I was a welfare worker in Harlem. He became my "client" after he got out of rehab and I got his drums out of hock. He began gigging here and there with Duke Jordan, who was driving a school bus in Brooklyn at the time, Les Spann and others. I tried to say hello to his father when he was up at the West End with the Countsmen but he cursed me out for no good reason. Phil Schaap thought this was funny.Louis Proyecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08876739966025806002noreply@blogger.com