John Paul Jones (musician): Difference between revisions

John Paul Jones (born John Baldwin on January 3, 1946) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist musician.

Best known as the

Jones was born in Sidcup, Kent (now part of Greater London). The stage name name "John Paul Jones" was suggested to him by a friend, Andrew Loog Oldham, who'd seen a poster for the film of that name in France.

Jones started playing piano at the age of six, learning his keyboard skills from his father, Joe Baldwin, a pianist and arranger for big bands in the 1940s and 1950s, notably with the Ambrose Orchestra. His mother was also in the music business which allowed the family to often perform together touring around England. His influences ranged from the blues of Big Bill Broonzy, the jazz of Charles Mingus, to the classical piano of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Because his parents often toured, Jones was sent to boarding school at a young age.^[1] Jones was a student at Christ's College, Blackheath, London where he formally studied music. At the age of 14, he became choirmaster and organist at a local church and during that year, he also bought his first bass guitar, a Dallas solid body electric followed by a Fender Jazz Bass which he used until 1975. The fluid playing of Chicago musician Phil Upchurch on his You Can't Sit Down LP, which includes a memorable bass solo, inspired Jones to take up the instrument.^[2]

Session work

Jones joined his first band, The Deltas, at 15. He then played bass for jazz-rock London group, Jett Blacks, a collective that included guitarist John McLaughlin.^[3] Jones' big break came in 1962 when he was hired by Jet Harris and Tony Meehan of the successful British group the the Shadows for a two-year stint. Shortly before hiring Jones, Jet and Tony had just had a Number 1 hit with "Diamonds" (a track on which Jones' bandmate-to-be Jimmy Page had played.)

Jones played his '61 Fender Jazz Bass on hundreds of recording sessions from 1962 to 1968^[4]. In 1964, Jones began session work with Decca Records on the recommendations of Tony Meehan. Between 1964 and 1968, he was also much in demand arranging and playing keyboards or bass guitar for artists including the Rolling Stones on Their Satanic Majesties Request (Jones' string arrangement is heard on "She's A Rainbow")^[5]; Herman's Hermits; Donovan on "Sunshine Superman" and "Mellow Yellow"; Jeff Beck; Cat Stevens; Rod Stewart; Shirley Bassey; Lulu; and numerous others. As well as recording sessions with Dusty Springfield, Jones also played bass for her Talk of the Town series of performances. His arranging and playing on Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" resulted in producer Mickie Most using his services as choice arranger for many of his own projects, with Tom Jones, Nico, Wayne Fontana, the Walker Brothers, and many others. Jones also got to record with fellow friends of Tony Meehan and Jet Harris, none other than Meehan and Harris' ex-band, Cliff Richard and the Shadows.

Before these recordings, Cliff Richard and the Shadows came close to nearly preventing the future formation of Led Zeppelin, when they had talks about Jones replacing their ex-bassist Brian "Licorice" Locking. Instead they chose John Rostill.

Jones has stated that he was completing two and three sessions a day, six and seven days a week.

During his time as a session player, Jones often crossed paths with guitarist Jimmy Page, a fellow session veteran. In June 1966, Page joined The Yardbirds, and in 1967 Jones contributed to their Little Games album. The following winter, during the sessions for Donovan's The Hurdy Gurdy Man, Jones expressed to Page an interest in being a part of any projects the guitarist might be planning. Later that year, The Yardbirds disbanded, leaving Page and bassist Chris Dreja to complete some previously booked Yardbirds dates in Scandinavia. Before a new band could be assembled, Dreja left to take up photography. Jones, at the suggestion of his wife,^[6] inquired to Page about the vacant position, and the guitarist eagerly invited Jones to collaborate, later explaining:

I was working at the sessions for Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, and John Paul Jones was looking after the musical arrangements. During a break, he asked me if I could use a bass player in the new group I was forming. He had a proper music training, and he had quite brilliant ideas. I jumped at the chance of getting him.^[8]

Vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham joined the two to form a quartet. Initially dubbed the "New Yardbirds" for the Scandinavian dates, the band would soon be known as Led Zeppelin.

Jones' decision to leave session work and join a group was due to his desire to express his artistic creativity. Despite the spotlight invariably being placed on the more flamboyant members of Led Zeppelin, many cite Jones' temperament, musicianship and experience as crucial elements adding to the success of the band. He was responsible for the classic bass lines of the group, notably those in "

Yeah we were both huge

Motown and Stax fans and general soul music fans, James Brown fan. Which is one of the reasons why I've always said that Zeppelin was one of the few bands to "swing". We actually had a groove in those days. People used to come to our shows and dance, which was great. To see all the women dancing, it was really brilliant. You didn't necessarily see that at a Black Sabbath show or whatever: So we were different in that way. We were a groovy band. We used all our black pop music influences as a key to the rock that went over the top.^[9]

After "retiring" his Fender Jazz Bass in 1975, Jones switched to using custom-designed Alembics [1] while out on the road, but still preferred to use the Jazz in the studio.

Jones' keyboarding skills added an

Jones' diverse contributions to the group extended to the use of other instruments, including an unusual triple-necked acoustic instrument consisting of a six and a twelve string guitar, and a mandolin. Jones often used bass pedals to supplement the band's sound while he was playing keyboards and mandolin.

While all members of Led Zeppelin had a reputation for off-stage excess (a label Robert Plant later claimed was somewhat exaggerated), Jones was seen as the quietest and lowest profile member of the group.^[10][11] His professionalism ensured that any excesses experienced on the road never hindered his performance. For his part, Jones has claimed that he had just as much fun on the road as his bandmates but was more discreet about it.^[12] Benoit Gautier, an employee of Atlantic Records in France, echoed this impression, stating that "The wisest guy in Led Zeppelin was John Paul Jones. Why? He never got caught in an embarrassing situation."^[13]

In an interview, Jones explained that fame with Led Zeppelin was not a big thing for him:

Not really; I'd done it all before ... I would like to think that I wasn't too stupid either. I tried to stay out of the drift of the rock star's path, mainly because I needed my sanity and freedom on the road. So generally, I used to check out of the hotel, and then get out on the street. I'd go walking ... I'm not as recognizable as Plant and Page. Plus, I used to change my appearance all the time just to make sure I wasn't as recognizable ... [G]enerally, I'm pretty quickly into the shadows ... I once read the

Beatles did a whole tour of America and never left their hotel rooms. And I thought, "I can't see the point of traveling around the world and not seeing anything."^[6]

However, following several exhausting tours and extended periods of time away from his family, by late 1973 Jones was beginning to show signs of disillusionment with life as a member of one of the biggest bands in the world. He seriously considered quitting Led Zeppelin to become choirmaster at Winchester Cathedral, but was talked into returning by the band's manager, Peter Grant.^[14] Jones later explained his reservations in a magazine interview:

I didn't want to harm the group, but I didn't want my family to fall apart either. We toured a huge amount in those early days. We were all very tired and under pressure and it just came to a head. When I first joined the band, I didn't think it would go on for that long, two or three years perhaps, and then I'd carry on with my career as a musician and doing movie music.^[1]

It is rumoured that the Led Zeppelin song "

The transvestites were actually friends of Richard Cole's; normal friendly people and we were all at some bar. That I mistook a transvestite for a girl is rubbish; that happened in another country to somebody else... Anyway 'Stephanie' ended up in my room and we rolled a joint or two and I fell asleep and set fire to the hotel room, as you do, ha ha, and when I woke up it was full of firemen!^[1]

Jones' involvement with Led Zeppelin did not put a halt to his session work. In 1969 he returned to the studio to play bass guitar on

He appeared on several sessions and videos for Paul McCartney and was involved in the soundtrack of the film Give My Regards to Broad Street. In 1985, Jones was asked by director Michael Winner to provide the soundtrack for the film, Scream for Help, with Jimmy Page appearing on two tracks. Jones provides vocals for two of the songs. He recorded and toured with singer Diamanda Galás on her 1994 album, The Sporting Life (co-credited to John Paul Jones). Jones set up his own recording studio called Sunday School, as well being involved in his daughter's (Jacinda Jones) singing career.

Zooma, his debut solo album, was released in September 1999 on Robert Fripp's DGM label and followed up in 2001 by The Thunderthief. Both albums were accompanied by tours, in which he played with Nick Beggs (Chapman Stick) and Terl Bryant (drums).

In 2004, he toured as part of the group

Jones plays on two tracks on Foo Fighters' album In Your Honor : mandolin on "Another Round" and piano on "Miracle", both of which are on the acoustic disc. The band's frontman Dave Grohl (a big Led Zeppelin fan) has described Jones' guest appearance as the "second greatest thing to happen to me in my life".

He has also branched out into album production, having produced such albums as

This year, Jones plans to produce Nickel Creek singer-fiddler Sara Watkins' debut solo album.^[18][19][20] As previously mentioned, Jones toured with Watkins, Glen Phillips, and the rest of Nickel Creek in late 2004 in a collaboration entitled Mutual Admiration Society.

On Feb. 10, 2008, John Paul Jones appeared with the Foo Fighters on the

• Fretless Fender Precision Bass
• 1961 Fender Jazz Bass (used in live performances)
• 1951 Fender
  Precision Bass
• Fender Bass V
• Ibanez RD300 Bass
• Gibson mandolin
  , used in live acoustic performances.
• Andy Manson custom Triple Neck Mandolin, 12 string & 6 string acoustic (Used in live performances)
• Alembic Triple Omega
• Alembic Series II
• Custom made Pedulla Rapture Bass
• Acoustic 360 Bass Amp
• Hammond organs
• Hohner Clavinet
• Hohner Electra-Piano
• Fender
  Rhodes
• Mellotron
• Steinway
  piano
• Yamaha CP-80 piano
• Symbolic Sound Kyma system
• Korg Trinity synthesizer
• Yamaha GX-1 synthesizer
• EMS VCS3 Synthesizer
• Moog 15 Modular Synthesizer

Discography

With Led Zeppelin

• Led Zeppelin (1969)
• Led Zeppelin II (1969)
• Led Zeppelin III (1970)
• Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
• Houses of the Holy (1973)
• Physical Graffiti (1975)
• The Song Remains the Same (1976)
• Presence (1976)
• In Through the Out Door (1979)
• Coda (1982)
• BBC Sessions (1997)
• How the West Was Won (2003)

Solo albums

John Paul Jones' first solo recording was a single for Pye Records in April 1964 which featured "Baja". The B-side was "A Foggy Day in Vietnam".

• Scream for Help (1985) (soundtrack)
• The Sporting Life (1994), with Diamanda Galás
• Zooma (1999)
• The Thunderthief (2001)

Filmography

• The Song Remains the Same (1976)
• Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
• The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993) Composer
• Risk (1994) Composer
• Led Zeppelin DVD
  (2003)

References