Isham Jones
Encyclopedia
Isham Jones was a United States
bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter
.
, to a musical and mining family, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan
, where he started his first band. In 1915 he moved to Chicago
, Illinois
, which remained his home base until 1932, when he reestablished himself in New York City
. Jones also toured England
with his orchestra in 1925.
The Isham Jones band made a series of popular gramophone record
s for Brunswick
throughout the 1920s. He led one of the most popular dance bands in the 1920s and 1930s. His first successful recording, Wabash Blues
written by Dave Ringle and Fred Meinken, was recorded in 1921 by Isham Jones and his Orchestra. This million-seller stayed twelve weeks in the U.S. charts, six at No. 1. Noted musicians who played in Jones' band included Louis Panico, Benny Goodman
(although he did not make any records during the short time he was with them), Woody Herman
, Walt Yoder
, and Roy Bargy
.
Jones was reportedly a strict taskmaster and was known for being rather cold and distant. His lushly romantic compositions seem at odds with his reported personality.
From the start, his Brunswick records were extremely popular. There was a gap from October 1927 to June 1929 where Jones did not record due to disbanding and reorganization.
From 1929 to 1932, his Brunswick recordings became even more sophisticated with often very unusual arrangements (by Gordon Jenkins
and others; Jones was his own arranger early on, but cultivated others for offbeat arrangements). During this period, Jones started featuring violinist Eddie Stone as one of his regular vocalists. Stone had an unusual, almost humorous tone to his voice. His other vocalists included Frank Sylvano, Billy Scott, Arthur Jarrett and Stone beginning in 1929 and in 1932, he added Joe Martin, another of the band's violinists, as a frequent vocalist. In April that year, young Bing Crosby
recorded two sessions with Jones' group which included "Sweet Georgia Brown
". Crosby at this point in his career was still singing in a jazz idiom, transitioning to his better known "crooner
" style.
In August 1932, Jones signed with Victor, and these records are generally considered among the very best arranged and performed commercial dance band records of the Depression
era. Victor's recording technique was especially suited to Jones' band. In October 1932, he teamed up with the Three X Sisters
in New York who had just departed from CBS radio. They recorded "experimental" songs for RCA Victor which Jones began to fuse jazz and early swing music. They recorded "Where, I Wonder Where?" and "What Would Happen To Me If Something Happened To You." His Victor releases had an almost symphonic sound, often with a strong use of tuba. He stayed with Victor until July 1934, when he signed with Decca
. (Jones' recordings during this period rivaled Paul Whiteman
and other dance orchestras as examples of the very best and most popular dance music of the era.)
After he left Decca in 1936, he again retired and his orchestra was taken over by band member Woody Herman
. Another Jones edition, in 1937-38, recorded a handful of sessions under the ARC
labels: Melotone
, Perfect
and Banner
.
In the 1940s, Jones resided on his poultry farm in Colorado, which he occasionally left for short tours with pickup bands. He later resided in Los Angeles. He moved to Hollywood, Florida
in 1955, and died there of cancer in 1956. (He is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, and perhaps for that reason is often erroneously listed as having died in Hollywood, California.)
His great-nephew is the noted jazz drummer Rusty Jones.
and Gus Kahn
were among his lyricists ) included:
In 2005, "California, Here I Come", recorded by Al Jolson With The Isham Jones Orchestra on Brunswick in 1924, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
In 2007, "It Had To Be You", recorded by Isham Jones and His Orchestra on Brunswick in 1924, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
.
Career
Jones was born in Coalton, OhioCoalton, Ohio
Coalton is a village in Jackson County, Ohio, United States. The population was 545 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Coalton is located at ....
, to a musical and mining family, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...
, where he started his first band. In 1915 he moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, which remained his home base until 1932, when he reestablished himself in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Jones also toured England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with his orchestra in 1925.
The Isham Jones band made a series of popular gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
s for Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
throughout the 1920s. He led one of the most popular dance bands in the 1920s and 1930s. His first successful recording, Wabash Blues
Wabash Blues
Wabash Blues, with words by Dave Ringle and music by Fred Meinken, was the first success for pianist, saxophonist and song composer Isham Jones . Recorded in 1921 by Isham Jones and his Orchestra, this million-seller stayed twelve weeks in the U.S. charts, six at No. 1.The author of the original...
written by Dave Ringle and Fred Meinken, was recorded in 1921 by Isham Jones and his Orchestra. This million-seller stayed twelve weeks in the U.S. charts, six at No. 1. Noted musicians who played in Jones' band included Louis Panico, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
(although he did not make any records during the short time he was with them), Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
, Walt Yoder
Walt Yoder
Walt Yoder was an American jazz double-bassist, best known for his association with Woody Herman.A piano player from age ten, Yoder switched to bass as a teenager. He worked in the bands of Joe Haymes, Tommy Dorsey, and Jimmy Dorsey early in the 1930s. Yoder played with Herman in Isham Jones's...
, and Roy Bargy
Roy Bargy
Roy Fredrick Bargy was an American composer and pianist.Born in Newaygo, Michigan, he grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where he was exposed to the music of pianists Johnny Walters and Luckey Roberts. In 1919 he began working with Charley Straight at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago, performing,...
.
Jones was reportedly a strict taskmaster and was known for being rather cold and distant. His lushly romantic compositions seem at odds with his reported personality.
From the start, his Brunswick records were extremely popular. There was a gap from October 1927 to June 1929 where Jones did not record due to disbanding and reorganization.
From 1929 to 1932, his Brunswick recordings became even more sophisticated with often very unusual arrangements (by Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Hill Jenkins was an American arranger, composer and pianist who was an influential figure in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, renowned for his lush string arrangements...
and others; Jones was his own arranger early on, but cultivated others for offbeat arrangements). During this period, Jones started featuring violinist Eddie Stone as one of his regular vocalists. Stone had an unusual, almost humorous tone to his voice. His other vocalists included Frank Sylvano, Billy Scott, Arthur Jarrett and Stone beginning in 1929 and in 1932, he added Joe Martin, another of the band's violinists, as a frequent vocalist. In April that year, young Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
recorded two sessions with Jones' group which included "Sweet Georgia Brown
Sweet Georgia Brown
"Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard and pop tune written in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard and Kenneth Casey .The tune was first recorded on March 19, 1925 by bandleader Ben Bernie, resulting in a five-week No. 1 for Ben Bernie and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra...
". Crosby at this point in his career was still singing in a jazz idiom, transitioning to his better known "crooner
Crooner
Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of pop standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, either backed by a full orchestra, a big band or by a piano. Originally it was an ironic term denoting an emphatically sentimental, often emotional singing style made possible by the use...
" style.
In August 1932, Jones signed with Victor, and these records are generally considered among the very best arranged and performed commercial dance band records of the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
era. Victor's recording technique was especially suited to Jones' band. In October 1932, he teamed up with the Three X Sisters
Three X Sisters
The Three X Sisters were an American all-girl harmony singing trio, initially known as The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce. They were on stage singing together as early as 1922, and formed their trio in 1924, which was composed of Pearl Santos , Violet Hamilton , and Jessie Fordyce .The trio...
in New York who had just departed from CBS radio. They recorded "experimental" songs for RCA Victor which Jones began to fuse jazz and early swing music. They recorded "Where, I Wonder Where?" and "What Would Happen To Me If Something Happened To You." His Victor releases had an almost symphonic sound, often with a strong use of tuba. He stayed with Victor until July 1934, when he signed with Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. (Jones' recordings during this period rivaled Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
and other dance orchestras as examples of the very best and most popular dance music of the era.)
After he left Decca in 1936, he again retired and his orchestra was taken over by band member Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
. Another Jones edition, in 1937-38, recorded a handful of sessions under the ARC
American Record Corporation
ARC, the American Record Company, also referred to as American Record Corporation, or as ARC Records, was a United States based record company...
labels: Melotone
Melotone Records
Melotone Records has been the name of two unrelated record companies.* Melotone Records , Australia* Melotone Records , United States of America...
, Perfect
Perfect Records
Perfect Records was a United States based record label of the 1920s and 1930s. It was a subsidiary of Pathé Records, producing standard lateral cut 78 rpm disc records for the US market....
and Banner
Banner Records
Banner Records was a United States based record label of the 20th century.Banner Records was launched in January 1922 by the Plaza Music Company of New York City. Banner was an extremely popular label in the 1920s, concentrating on popular music of the day. To this day, Banners are often found all...
.
In the 1940s, Jones resided on his poultry farm in Colorado, which he occasionally left for short tours with pickup bands. He later resided in Los Angeles. He moved to Hollywood, Florida
Hollywood, Florida
-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...
in 1955, and died there of cancer in 1956. (He is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, and perhaps for that reason is often erroneously listed as having died in Hollywood, California.)
His great-nephew is the noted jazz drummer Rusty Jones.
Compositions by Isham Jones
Isham Jones' compositions (he wrote the music, Charles NewmanCharles Newman
Charles Newman may refer to:* Charles Newman * Charles Newman * Charles M. Newman, mathematician...
and Gus Kahn
Gus Kahn
Gustav Gerson Kahn was a musician, songwriter and lyricist.-Biography:Kahn was born in Koblenz, Germany in 1886. The family emigrated from there to the United States and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1890...
were among his lyricists ) included:
- "Meet Me In Bubble Land" 1919
- "On the Alamo" 1922
- "Swingin' Down The Lane" 1923
- "I'll See You in My DreamsI'll See You in My Dreams (song)"I'll See You in My Dreams" is a popular song.One of the most beloved and popular songs of its day, "I'll See You in My Dreams" was written by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Gus Kahn. The song was published in 1924...
" 1924 - "The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)" 1924
- "It Had To Be YouIt Had to Be You (song)"It Had to Be You" is a popular song written by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Gus Kahn, and was first published in 1924.The song was performed by Priscilla Lane in the 1939 film The Roaring Twenties and by Danny Thomas in the 1951 film I'll See You in My Dreams. The latter film was based loosely upon...
" 1924 - "Spain" 1924
- "Song Of The Blues" (1929)
- "Not A Cloud In The Sky" 1929
- "What's The Use?" 1930
- "Feeling That Way" 1930
- "You're Just A Dream Come True" (his theme song) 1931
- "I Wouldn't Change You For The World" 1931
- "Let That Be A Lesson To You" 1932
- "I Can't Believe It's True" 1932
- "One Little Word Led To Another" 1932
- "The Wooden Soldier And The China Doll" "Calvacade of Vitaphone Shorts Volume 1: Swing, Swing Swing:1931-1944"(Cat. #ML103928) 1934
- "I'll Never Have To Dream Again" 1932
- "Pretending You Care" 1932
- "There's Nothing Left To Do But Say Goodbye" 1932
- "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever?" (another theme song) 1932
- "You've Got Me Crying Again" 1933
- "Honestly" 1933
- "Old Lace" 1933
- "Something Seems To Tell Me" 1933
- "You're Welcome" 1933
- "Bubbles In The Wine" 1933
- "All Mine, Almost" 1934
- "There Is No Greater LoveThere Is No Greater Love"There Is No Greater Love" is a 1936 jazz standard composed by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Marty Symes. It was the last hit song for Jones's orchestra before the bandleader turned the orchestra over to Woody Herman, beginning the latter's 50 year career as a bandleader.The song is often played as a...
" 1936
Number One Hits
During the 1920s, Isham Jones had several number one records on the pop charts in the U.S.:- "Wabash Blues" was number one for six weeks in 1921;
- "On the Alamo" was number one for four weeks in 1922;
- "Swinging Down the Lane" was number one for six weeks in 1923;
- "Spain" was number one for two weeks and "It Had To Be You" was number one for five weeks in 1924; and,
- "I'll See You in My Dreams" was number one for seven weeks and "Remember" was number one for one week in 1925.
- His 1930 version of "Star Dust" was one of the best selling versions. Jones commissioned Victor Young to write a ballad instrumental of the mid-tempo tune and it was this arrangement (with Victor Young's violin solo) which became such a hit. Mitchell ParishMitchell ParishMitchell Parish was an American lyricist.-Early life:Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old...
wrote lyrics for the song at this time.
Honors
In 1989, Isham Jones was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.In 2005, "California, Here I Come", recorded by Al Jolson With The Isham Jones Orchestra on Brunswick in 1924, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
In 2007, "It Had To Be You", recorded by Isham Jones and His Orchestra on Brunswick in 1924, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
External links
- Isham Jones on RedHotJazz.com biography with photos and .ram audios of his early recordings
- Isham Jones on Shellac.org
- Isham Jones at Find-A-Grave