Volume 210: Jonah Style

Liner Notes

Welcome to season five.

We start out 2025 with a trumpet player you’ve heard twice before. This is the last of his records in my dad’s collection.

When I first came across him, 165 episodes ago, I realized quickly that I had been missing out on listening to another great trumpet player in my youth. His previous episodes are on my play-often list.

The arrangements on this record call for his playing to be smooth and lyrical, but we know he had a famous solo that was brash and beautiful.

So, get ready to hear from a musician who was the jokester of the Cab Calloway orchestra for over a decade in Volume 210: Jonah Style.

Here’s the promised link: Read the Jonah Jones New York Time Obituary. 

Video Intro

Listen here or on my PodBean Podcast Episode page:

You can check out the video version here or on YouTube:

Credits and Copyrights:

See information from the Discogs.com page here

The Jonah Jones Quartet – Great Instrumental Hits Styled By Jonah Jones
Label: Capitol Records – T1557, Capitol Records – T-1557
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Released: 1961
Genre: Jazz
Style: Swing, Easy Listening

Bass – John Brown
Drums – George Foster
Piano – Teddy Brannon

We’ll hear 7 of the 12 songs on the album.

The Poor People Of Paris
Written-By – Marguerite Monnot, and Rene Rouzard

Dansero
Written-By – Lee Daniels, Richard Hayman, and Sol Parker

The Third Man Theme
Written-By – Anton Karas, and Walter Lord

Lisbon Antigua
Written-By – Paul Portela

Soft Summer Breeze
Written-By – Eddie Heywood, and Judy Spencer

Serenata
Written-By – Leroy Anderson

Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White
Written-By – Louiguy (real name Louis Guglielmi)

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Here is the Episode Script!

Thanks sweetie and thank YOU for tuning into episode 210 of Spinning My Dad’s Vinyl.

And welcome to season five.

We start out 2025 with a trumpet player you’ve heard twice before. This is the last of his records in my dad’s collection.

When I first came across him, 165 episodes ago, I quickly realized that I had been missing out on listening to another great trumpet player in my youth. His previous episodes are on my play-often list.

The arrangements on this record call for his playing to be smooth and lyrical, but we know he had a famous solo that was brash and beautiful.

So, get ready to hear from a musician who was the jokester of the Cab Calloway orchestra for over a decade in Volume 210: Jonah Style.

[Music: The Poor People Of Paris]

It’s the Jonah Jones Quartet with vocal backing by the Swinginest Chorale performing
The Poor People Of Paris
Written-By – Marguerite Monnot, and Rene Rouzard

The rest of the Quartet behind Jones is
Bass – John Brown
Drums – George Foster
Piano – Teddy Brannon

The solo I mentioned was Cab Calloway’s 1931 recording of Minnie the Moocher.

Ok…Why this record for this episode?

I’ve really started to look forward to any session listening to this trumpet player’s music. I’m sorry I didn’t know much about him earlier when I was starting to listen to more jazz. He would have been high on MY to play list.

I loved learning about his fun-loving personality, which got Dizzy Gillespie kicked out of Cab’s band. That’s a story you can hear in Volume 38: Dizzy Will Excite.

This album is also a great example of the experimentation with pop music in the late 1950 through the early 1960s. This almost sounds like a recording Ray Conniff might have made. With the vocals that aren’t necessarily lending lyrics to the song.

It’s good stuff.

Now a song Doris Day recorded a couple years after Jonah did.

[Music: Dansero]

Dansero
Written-By – Lee Daniels, Richard Hayman, and Sol Parker

Now let me tell you about my dad’s vinyl I am spinning for this episode.

The Jonah Jones Quartet – Great Instrumental Hits Styled By Jonah Jones
Label: Capitol Records – T1557
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Released: 1961
Genre: Jazz
Style: Swing, Easy Listening

We’ll hear 7 of the 12 songs on the album.

The liner notes are short and I’ll even skip a couple sentences listing all the songs.

Jonah Jones imparts his magic touch to a dozen fine songs which are already famous as great instrumental hits. but now they have been removed from the lush orchestral surroundings in which they were originally heard, and tailored to suit the clean, compact style which has become a Jonah Jones trademark.

Once again, as in Jonah’s Touch of blue album, The Familiar quartet sound, paced by the brilliant Jones trumpet against a shuffling rhythm background, is augmented by the Swinginest Choral. They’re tasteful vocal riffs add even more excitement to these inventive arrangements.

Each one was a best seller in its own right but they may well become hits all over again, now that they’ve been swingingly styled by Jonah.

Let’s see what prices this record is being sold at on discogs dot com.

$25.00 High
$0.75 Low

$6.81 Average
$5.99 Median

Last sold on Oct 15, 2024 for $5.99

My dad’s album is in good condition. Not much hiss or many crackles. The surface is pretty clean too. Only a few wear marks are visible.

The cover is in poor condition. The front is still in pretty good shape, but there is a slit along the bottom edge and one near the opening.

The usual word Posted is stamped on the back along with a green magic marker streak. His ever-present address label is on the front.

Since the record itself is in such good shape, I’ll value my dad’s vinyl at two bucks.

OK…Here’s a melody regular listeners of this show should recognize.

[Music: The Third Man Theme]

The Third Man Theme
Written-By – Anton Karas, and Walter Lord

We’ve already taken a closer look at the life of this great trumpet player in episodes 45 and 126, so let’s just summarize here.

Jonah Jones was a famous trumpet player and singer who became known for his cheerful, easygoing jazz style. He was born Robert Elliott Jones on December 31, 1909, in Louisville, Kentucky. As a young boy, Jonah taught himself to play the trumpet and started performing in local bands. In the 1920s, he joined riverboat bands that played jazz as they traveled up and down the Mississippi River. Later, Jonah became part of bigger bands, including the famous Cab Calloway Orchestra, where he performed for many years.

In the 1950s, Jonah Jones gained even more fame by forming his own quartet. His music was different because it combined swing jazz with a more relaxed, pop style that made it easy for anyone to enjoy. One of his most popular albums was Muted Jazz, which won a Grammy Award in 1959. Jonah’s energetic performances and catchy tunes brought jazz to a wider audience, and he continued to entertain people around the world until his death in 2000. Today, he’s remembered as a musician who made jazz fun and accessible for everyone.

Jonah Jones died April 30, 2000 at the age of 90.

Wow…90. In Portuguese that would be Anitgua.

[Music: Lisbon Antigua]

Lisbon Antigua or old Lisbon, which is a port town in Portugal.
Written-By – Paul Portela

Time now for this episode’s interesting side note and it has to do with how Jonah Jones’ career could not be muted…well kinda.

This tidbit is provided in his obituary from the New York Times.

He staged a midcareer resurgence in the 50’s by putting a mute in his horn and familiar pop melodies in his hands. In 1952 Mr. Jones received an offer from the pianist Joe Bushkin to fill in at the Embers, one of New York’s 52nd Street jazz clubs. Mr. Jones agreed to put a mute in his horn; this quieter sound was what his predecessor in the band, Buck Clayton, had adopted, and it was what the restaurant preferred. Mr. Jones, whose resume included stints with the society band leaders Lester Lanin and Meyer Davis, wasn’t particularly fazed. Despite the fact that his regular style was open, forceful and swinging in the Louis Armstrong vein, he knew how to play softly too.

He was invited back to play at the Embers with his own quartet in 1955, and the same restrictions of volume applied. Occasionally Mr. Jones was tempted to take the mute out of his horn. ”People would say, ‘Jonah, just play one chorus open,’ ” Mr. Jones told John S. Wilson of The New York Times in 1983. ”One night, Joe Howard, the maitre d’, who had warned me to keep the mute in, was busy, and I thought he wasn’t listening, so I played one chorus open. Afterward, when I came off the stand, Joe told me that if I took the mute out again I should just forget the address of the club.”

The trumpeter Jimmy Owens recalled: ”The essence of his style was to swing. His whole thing was to communicate, and that’s why he stuck with the melodies. He always said of himself that he was not a chord player, like Dizzy Gillespie and Roy Eldridge and Charlie Shavers; he was more of a melody player.”

By the way, the use of Mr, is New York Times writing style.

Speaking of melodies, up next, we’ll hear a couple of pretty ones.

[Music: Summer Breeze]
[Music: Serenata]

There is Serenata
Written-By – Leroy Anderson

Before that we heard
Soft Summer Breeze
Written-By – Eddie Heywood, and Judy Spencer

Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.

I’ve discovered that I really like listening to Jonah’s music. And while my dad only had these three records from him, I know we hear his trumpet in many other orchestras that have been featured on this show.

I think I remember this album cover from my growing up days in the house. Why not? It’s got a bikini clad woman wearing an inordinate amount of necklaces. She is in what can be described as a fashion designer’s studio among several dress forms. The one she is leaning on has a sheath of fabric wrapped around it and trails on the floor for quite a length. Sitting in front of another form is a trumpet standing on its bell.

Jonah was known for his unique album cover artwork. Pretty risque for the times

All right…The shubedoops you’ll hear in this next song are the kind of things my dad would just randomly sing around the house.

[Music: Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White]

Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White
Written-By – Louiguy (real name Louis Guglielmi)

And there you have selections from one of the many great trumpet players from my dad’s collection.

So thanks for tuning into Volume 210: Jonah Style

however you did. If you want more information about this show, head over to spinning my dad’s vinyl dot com.

I’ll be back next week with all my skips, scratches, and pops

FOR Volume 211: Percy’s Cuba

Until then,
Go with the flow my friends.