Jones, Hank

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Hank Jones

1918–

Jazz pianist, composer

One of the great survivors of jazz piano, Hank Jones has adapted his playing to a huge variety of styles over a career that has lasted more than 75 years. Through it all, Jones maintained a distinctive personal style at the keyboard, one sometimes described as harplike. While many jazz pianists cultivate a percussive style, striking the keys of the instrument sharply, Jones's playing is liquid and elegant. He has accompanied a host of the great names among jazz instrumentalists and vocalists for several generations, appeared on classic jazz recordings, and released many successful albums under his own name.

Henry "Hank" Jones was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 31, 1918. His father was drawn north by the chance to work in the auto industry, and the family—father, mother, and seven children—moved into a large house in Pontiac, Michigan. The whole family was musical. Jones's father was a blues guitarist (and a Baptist deacon on Sundays), his mother sang, and his siblings studied music. One of Jones's younger brothers, Elvin, became a highly influential jazz drummer, and another, Thad, a noted trumpeter. All kinds of music filtered through the house: the young Jones heard jazz pianists such as Thomas "Fats" Waller and Earl "Fatha" Hines, soaked up gospel music in his Pontiac neighborhood, and sat down with the family to listen to Sunday broadcasts by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Jones's own first musical training came in the form of classical piano lessons, but he and his brothers were soon playing along to 78 rpm records by piano virtuoso (and trio specialist) Art Tatum. Jones began his career performing for school dances at the age of 13. Jones joined various Detroit bands and traveled around the Great Lakes with what were then called "territory" bands, regional ensembles that often incubated new styles. In 1944, Detroit saxophonist Eli "Lucky" Thompson suggested that Jones move to New York and recommended him for a spot in the band of trumpeter Oran "Hot Lips" Page.

Jones did well from the start. He had the skills to survive in New York's competitive jazz environment. "People heard me and said, 'Well, this is not just a boy from the country—maybe he knows a few chords,'" Jones told Ben Waltzer of the New York Times.

Whether because of his classical training or just because he had a superior ear, Jones quickly learned to function in various styles that were current in New York jazz of the 1940s. He studied the music of bebop pianist Bud Powell and picked up the then-radical new bebop style, with its complex harmonies and its virtuoso improvisations based on the harmonies, rather than the melodies, of a piece's opening material. He developed a special flair for accompanying singers, backing bebop vocalist Billy Eckstine early in his career and, after a stint with the roster of the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series, settling in for a six-year run as Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist in 1947.

In the 1950s, with jazz clubs flourishing in New York City, Jones was ubiquitous in live appearances and on records. He worked at various times with Charlie Parker (1952's "Cosmic Rays" was a classic example of Jones's cool under the pressure of Parker's intense improvisations), tenor saxophonist Lester Young, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and numerous other musicians whose paths crossed his because he was serving as the de facto house pianist at the jazz label Savoy. Jones joined clarinetist Artie Shaw's Gramercy 5 group in 1954, appearing on some of the last recordings Shaw made before his sudden retirement. Perhaps the biggest jazz classic to which Jones contributed his keyboard skills was saxophonist Cannonball Adderley's 1958 release Something Else, with an all-star lineup that included Miles Davis on trumpet.

Jones also released highly regarded recordings under his own name, often in a small-group format. These included Urbanity (1953), The Jazz Trio of Hank Jones (1955), and The Hank Jones Quartet/Quintet (1955), of which Waltzer wrote that "the pianist is attached to the soloist like a sidecar to a motorcycle. He balances and grounds the horn players, helping to navigate their improvisation." Jones's productivity was partly due to his avoidance of the substance abuse problems that plagued many of his contemporaries. "I've always tried to live cleanly," he told Michael Anthony of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I didn't fall into the bad habits a lot of the guys got into: the smoking, the drinking, the narcotics. I've tried to take care of myself."

Jones's stability, and his knack for adapting himself to varying musical surroundings, extended his career to a remarkable length. In 1959 he became staff pianist for the CBS television network, providing piano music and accompanying larger groups for any program—from The Ed Sullivan Show to Captain Kangaroo—that needed jazz accompaniment, and for the dancers and even trained animal acts that came through the door at CBS to audition for a spot on a talk show. In the late 1970s Jones moved to Broadway, serving as musical director and pianist for the Fats Waller-themed musical Ain't Misbehavin' and expanding on Waller's tunes in late-night shows at the nearby Ziegfeld Restaurant after the curtain came down.

After the end of the show's run in the early 1980s, Jones began collecting Social Security checks but this did not signal the end of his musical career. A remarkable series of recordings under his own name began with Moods Unlimited in 1982 and continued through critically acclaimed projects that demonstrated the range of his abilities. He recorded duo-piano music with his Detroit-born contemporary Tommy Flanagan. His familiarity with Fats Waller's music served as the basis for Handful of Keys (1993), and other releases encompassed a broad sweep of jazz history. With bassist Charlie Haden he recorded an album of pieces, Steal Away, based on African-American spirituals; he recorded with West African musicians; he accompanied singer Abbey Lincoln in an album of duets; and he joined his brother Elvin on an album of music by the late Thad Jones, the third Jones brother who had helped shape modern jazz.

In 2003 Jones bounced back from an aortic aneurysm and resumed a busy concert schedule. In 2005 he was featured on two albums, For My Father and saxophonist Joe Lovano's Joyous Encounter. Slowing down wasn't part of his plans. "Every appearance that I do, I want to be better than the last one," he told Frank Spignese of the Daily Yomiuri in Japan, where he traveled for shows at Blue Note jazz clubs in Tokyo and Osaka in 2006. "Every solo that I take, I want to be better than the previous one. I want to improve to the point where I can't improve anymore. I don't think that will ever happen. You keep pushing that horizon back a little farther. If you keep making the effort, you'll show some progress."

At a Glance …

Born Henry Jones on July 31, 1918, in Vicksburg, MS; father a Baptist deacon and blues guitarist; family moved to Pontiac, MI; one of seven children; two brothers, Elvin and Thad, became jazz musicians.

Career: Musician, 1931–; CBS television, staff pianist, 1959–74; Ain't Misbehavin', Broadway musical, pianist and music director, late 1970s.

Awards: ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame, 2003.

Addresses: Label—Justin Time Records, 5455 Paré, Suite 101, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H4P 1P7.

Selected works

Albums

Urbanity, Verve, 1953.

Bluebird, Savoy, 1955.
The Hank Jones Quartet/Quintet, Savoy, 1955.
The Jazz Trio of Hank Jones, Savoy, 1955.
The Talented Touch, Capitol, 1958.
Arrival Time, RCA, 1962.
This Is Ragtime Now, Paramount, 1964.
Happenings, Impulse, 1966.
Just for Fun, Original Jazz Classics, 1977.
Bop Redux, Muse, 1977.
Groovin' High, Muse, 1978.
Great Jazz Trio at the Village Vanguard, vols. 1 and 2, East World, 1980.
Moods Unlimited, Evidence, 1982.
The Oracle, EmArcy, 1989.
Lazy Afternoon, Concord Jazz, 1989.
A Handful of Keys: The Music of Thomas "Fats" Waller, Verve, 1992.
Upon Reflection: The Music of Thad Jones, Verve, 1994.
(with Charlie Haden) Steal Away, Verve, 1994.
Master Class, 32 Jazz, 1997.
Favors, Verve, 1997.
Compassion, Black & Blue, 2002.
For My Father, Justin Time, 2005.