Willie Jones (drummer)

Jones was born in New York on October 20, 1929.[1] He mainly taught himself to play the drums,[1] and played left handed.[2]^:164 He played and recorded with pianist Thelonious Monk in 1953,[1] including on the album Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. This recording, on November 13, was Jones' first.[2] He also appeared with Monk on the television program The Tonight Show, on June 10, 1955.[2]^:187 Jones was sideman for another pianist's recording in 1955 – Elmo Hope's Meditations;[3]^:723 and for Randy Weston's The Modern Art of Jazz by Randy Weston in the following year.[3]^:1491 In 1956 Jones had a two-week engagement with Monk in Philadelphia.[2]^:212 Jones also played with Kenny Dorham, J. J. Johnson, Charlie Parker, and Cecil Payne in the mid-1950s.[1]

In 1955–56 Jones was part of Charles Mingus' Jazz Workshop,[1] and was the drummer in the bassist's band that recorded Pithecanthropus Erectus, which helped develop a freer form of group improvisation.[3]^:1001 Jones was tenor saxophonist Lester Young's drummer from late 1956 to early 1959.[1] In 1961, Jones played on Sun Ra's The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra.[1][4] After this, nothing is known about Jones, and his date of death was taken from social security records.[1] These associations – with the traditional Young and the avant-garde Sun Ra – illustrated Jones' versatility.[5]