jazz singer
Personal Information
Born November 25, 1928, in Aiken, SC; died October 16, 2001, in Mount Vernon, NY; married John Medlock; children: one daughter (deceased).
Career
Jazz singer. Won amateur night at the Apollo, 1943; sang with Buddy Johnson and his 19-piece band, 1944; made her recording debut singing "Blow Top Tunes" on Black and White record label, 1944; sang with bands led by Pete Johnson, J.C. Heard, Sonny Stitt, Barney Bigard, and Earl Hines, 1944-52; went into semi-retirement, 1952-60; released Don't go to Strangers, 1960; met tenor saxophonist Houston Person, 1968; began recording for Muse (later High Note), 1976; released Save Your Love for Me, 1981; released My Buddy, 1999; toured and recorded until her death.
Life's Work
Jazz and blues singer Etta Jones could sound like the legendary Billie Holiday or Dinah Washington when she wanted to, but her voice was distinctive and she could make any song her own. She was also compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Ella Johnson, but Jones was unique among them. Though she never achieved the fame that Holiday or Fitzgerald did, Jones was a great performer, earning three Grammy nominations in her lifetime, for Don't go to Strangers (1960), Save Your Love for Me (1981), and My Buddy (1999). Jones's temperament was decidedly unlike that of a jazz diva, and she cherished the relationship she had with her longtime saxophonist, Houston Person. She toured constantly with Person for three decades, playing primarily for black audiences, and kept up her concert schedule until two weeks before her death in 2001. Sadly underrated throughout her 57-year career, most of the media coverage Jones received in her lifetime took place after her death.
Developed Unique Style
Jones was born November 25, 1928, in Aiken, South Carolina, and raised in Harlem. She developed her unique voice and style very early on. She used silence, her breath sounds, quick yodels, unusual lyrical syncopation, and a sliding pitch that made for a rich, bluesy tone. Her career began when she was 15, after she won one of the famous amateur contests at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem. Among her influences, she cited Thelma Carpenter, a onetime singer for Count Basie who became a torch singer. "Neither a shouter, a whisperer, nor a bebopper, Ms. Jones clung fast to a set of jazz standards from the 1940s and '50s," wrote critic Ben Ratliff of the New York Times. She was also a ready improviser. "I never sing a song the same way again," the Independent (London) quoted her as saying. Her favorite composer was Sammy Cahn, whose songs are the subject of her 1999 album, All the Way, and she loved sad ballads. "They're the most pretty to me," she once said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "When it's sad, it's beautiful."
Jones began working as a professional singer at 16, when she won an audition and went on tour with Buddy Johnson and his 19-piece band as a temporary replacement for Johnson's sister, Ella Johnson. Johnson's group played in the "common vernacular jazz style of the '40s," according to Ratliff, using a blend of rhythm-and-blues and jump blues. The band was not as popular as some of the other touring bands of the era, such as those of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, and toured black-only venues across the United States. When Ella Johnson returned to the band, Jones worked with a number of different bands, both medium and large, led by artists such as Pete Johnson, J.C. Heard, Sonny Stitt, Barney Bigard, and Earl Hines. She made her recording debut in 1944 for jazz critic and music producer Leonard Feather, singing "Blow Top Tunes" on the Black and White record label. She recorded three other songs with Feather, including "Evil Gal Blues," which later became hits for Dinah Washington.
Recorded Hit for Prestige Label
In 1952 Jones went into semi-retirement, singing only occasionally. She had tried to make it as a solo singer but didn't have much luck, so she worked as a seamstress, elevator operator, and at other mundane jobs during this time. Prestige Records pulled her out of retirement after eight years, to record her 1960 release, Don't Go to Strangers.
It was the biggest hit of her career. Jones could not believe it when a friend told her the single was being played on jukeboxes everywhere. Don't Go to Strangers climbed both the R&B and pop charts, sold over a million copies, and earned a gold record and a Grammy nomination. "No disc better exemplifies Jones's appeal," according to the London Times. It was the only time during her career that Jones commanded high concert fees, and the success pushed her income, as she once put it, from $50 to $750. Don't Go to Strangers was one of seven records she released on the Prestige label.
Teamed with Saxophonist Houston Person
Jones was in Washington, D.C., in 1968, when she first played with tenor saxophonist Houston Person and his trio. Person, also from South Carolina, became her saxophonist, friend, producer, road manager, and traveling companion for the next 33 years. "It's been a wonderful relationship. He takes care of me, watches over me," Down Beat quoted her as saying. "He's just been my best friend, ever." The pair always shared equal billing, which was an unusual arrangement for a jazz singer and her saxophonist. They developed a "conversational style of answering each other's lines," according to Ratliff, who quoted Jones as saying, "He knows exactly what I'm going to do. He knows if I'm in trouble; he'll give me the note. He leaves me room." Though audiences called them Aunt Etta and Uncle Person, and often mistook them for husband and wife, the two were never married. They began recording for the Muse record label in 1976, which later became High Note. Jones never recorded for a major label. "All I want to do is work, make a decent salary, and have friends," she once said, according to the Independent (London).
Person served as Jones's manager and producer on 18 records. Writer Samuel J. Freedman in the New York Times called the relationship "perhaps the most productive such partnership in jazz history." Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark, told Freedman in an interview, "What they did was classic. For a tenor sax and a lady singer, it was really one of a kind.... Every phrase, every gesture, they were attuned to each other." Jones and Person toured for more than thirty years together, most often performing for black audiences.
She battled illness in the early 1990s, but came back to record some remarkable collaborations with a younger set of jazz musicians, including pianist Benny Green and blues singer Charles Brown. By the late 1990s, this group was appearing twice a year at Manhattan's prestigious Village Vanguard, and at international festivals around the world. Jones maintained her presence on the New York jazz scene, playing concerts up to two weeks before her death, though she was confined to a wheelchair.
Jones was said to have maintained her vocal power and range even into her seventies. She could do a dead-on impersonation of Billie Holiday's signature tone, though she rarely did this for audiences. Jones's last album, Etta Jones Sings Lady Day, a tribute to Holiday, was released the day she died. Jones died on October 16, 2001, of breast and lung cancer, at her home in Mount Vernon, New York. After Jones's death, Person played a six-night stand at the Jazz Standard in Manhattan, the sort of first-rate venue that had eluded the duo. "I've gotten my recognition," Person said in an interview with Freedman. "But I designed the group so that Etta and I shared half and half, and it hurts me that she didn't get what she deserved. She was out there for so many years."
Works
Selected discography
- Etta Jones and Strings, Original Jazz, 1960.
- Don't Go to Strangers, Prestige, 1960.
- So Warm, Prestige, 1961.
- Something Nice, Prestige, 1961.
- From the Heart, Prestige, 1962.
- Lonely and Blue, Original Jazz, 1962.
- Hollar!, Prestige, 1962.
- Love Shout, Prestige, 1963.
- If You Could See Me Now, Muse, 1963.
- Etta Jones Sings, King, 1965.
- Etta Jones '75, 20th Century, 1975.
- Ms. Jones to You, Muse, 1976.
- My Mother's Eyes, Muse, 1977.
- I'll Be Seeing You, Muse, 1987.
- Fine and Mellow, Muse, 1987.
- Sugar, Muse, 1989.
- Christmas with Etta Jones, Muse, 1990.
- Reverse the Charges, Muse, 1991.
- At Last, Muse, 1993.
- My Gentleman Friend, Muse, 1994.
- The Melody Lingers On, High Note, 1997.
- My Buddy: Songs of Buddy Johnson, High Note, 1998.
- All the Way, High Note, 1999.
- Easy Living, High Note, 2000.
- Etta Jones Sings Lady Day, High Note, 2001.
Further Reading
Books
- Larkin, Colin, editor, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK, Ltd., 1998.
- Dayton Daily News, October 28, 2001, p. 5C.
- Down Beat, March 2002, p. 22.
- Independent, October 22, 2001, p. 6.
- New York Times, October 19, 2001, p. C12; May 5, 2002, p. 2.1.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 1998, p. 21.
- Independent (London, England), October 24, 2001, p. 19.
- Variety, November 5-11, 2001, p. 41.
- All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (June 27, 2002).
— Brenna Sanchez
