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Sam Jones

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

Sam Jones was an American jazz bassist, cellist and composer. He was born in 1924 in Jacksonville, Florida, into a musical family: his father played piano and drums, his aunt the organ in church. At school he began on drums in a brass band and later switched to the double bass. In the mid-1950s he moved to New York, where he worked with, among others, Kenny Dorham, Illinois Jacquet, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk.

Music and breakthrough

Internationally he became known mainly as the bassist in Cannonball Adderley's quintet, which he joined around 1959 and in which he played until the mid-1960s. Many of those recordings were released on Riverside Records. Afterwards he played in the Oscar Peterson trio from 1966 to 1970 and in the 1970s with Cedar Walton. As a leader he made records for Xanadu and SteepleChase, such as Visitation from 1978. Two of his compositions from the Adderley years, Del Sasser and Unit 7, have become jazz standards.

Influence

Jones was the kind of bassist who carries the ensemble without drawing attention to himself. Playing with drummers such as Louis Hayes and Billy Higgins, he formed a rhythm section that gave soloists all the room they needed. He also played the cello, which is rare in jazz, and belonged to Bill Lee's New York Bass Violin Choir. He died in 1981 of lung cancer. Anyone who listens to the hard bop of the 1950s and 1960s will almost always hear his bass beneath the best recordings.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to The Soul Society from 1960 and pay attention only to the double bass. Can you hear how the bass keeps a steady, warm pulse while the horns solo?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists