Jo Jones | Drum Solo

Welcome to MUSIC CIRCLE Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes known as Papa Jo Jones to distinguish him from younger drummer Philly Joe Jones. He is generally held to be the most important drummer of his time, mainly because he caused the transition, or at the very least was instrumental in it, when the art of drumming moved from ‘Ragtime’ music to what we now know as jazz – and drumming changed. He became known as ‘Papa’ Jo Jones to avoid confusion with ‘Philly’ Joe Jones who was a dozen years younger but eventually working at the same time. Ragtime was a genre of drumming which appeared at the turn of the 20th century, and it was closely associated with a style of entertainment called ‘Vaudeville’. Vaudeville music was often played by one guy with drumsticks on a bass drum and a snare drum and this was called ‘d