John Paul Jones

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

John Paul Jones, born John Baldwin, is an English bassist, keyboardist, arranger and producer, born in Sidcup in 1946. His father was a pianist and arranger for big bands and taught him to play piano from the age of six. At fourteen he was a church organist and choirmaster, and he bought his first bass guitar. He listened to the blues of Big Bill Broonzy, the jazz of Charles Mingus and the piano music of Rachmaninoff.

Music and breakthrough

In 1962 he began playing with Jet Harris and Tony Meehan, and from 1964 he worked as a session musician at Decca. Until 1968 he played and arranged on hundreds of recordings, sometimes three a day. He worked for Donovan on Sunshine Superman, for Dusty Springfield, Cat Stevens and Herman's Hermits, and wrote the string arrangement for She's a Rainbow by The Rolling Stones. He got his stage name from Andrew Loog Oldham. In 1968 he asked Jimmy Page, whom he knew from the sessions, whether he could use a bassist. With Robert Plant and John Bonham they formed Led Zeppelin, in which Jones played bass, organ and piano.

Influence

Jones was the quiet craftsman of Led Zeppelin. His musical training and his experience as an arranger gave the band's heavy blues rock more colour, with keyboards, strings and unusual instruments. After the band ended in 1980 he worked as a producer and arranger and made solo albums such as Zooma (1999). Later he played in Them Crooked Vultures, with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1968No Introduction Necessary
• 1985Scream for Help (soundtrack)
• 1994The Sporting Life
• 1999Zooma
• 2001The Thunderthief

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still Pop^NL Reader

See also

• The Thunderthief