Etta Jones

Etta Jones - vocalist, recording artist (1928-2001)

Etta Jones was a fine jazz singer who made the most of her vocal talents. She retained a loyal following wherever she sang, and was held in the highest regard by her fellow musicians. Her last three decades were her most productive, in both the quantity and artistic quality of her work.

She was born in South Carolina, but brought up in Harlem. She entered one of the famous talent contests at the Apollo Theatre as a 15 year old, and although she did not win, she was asked to audition for a job with the big band led by Buddy Johnson, as a temporary replacement for the bandleader's sister.

Johnson's band was popular on the black touring circuit of the day, and the experience provided a good grounding for the singer. Etta stayed with Johnson's big band for a year and then went out on her own in 1944 to record several sides with noted jazz producer and writer Leonard Feather. In 1947, she returned to singing in big bands, one led by drummer J.C. Heard and the next with legendary pianist, Earl "Fatha" Hines, whom she stayed with for three years. She worked for a number of bands in the ensuing years, including groups led by Barney Bigard, Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt and Art Blakey, but went into a period of virtual obscurity from 1952 until the end of the decade, performing only occasionally.

In 1960, she was offered a recording opportunity by Prestige Records, and immediately struck gold with her hit recording of "Don't Go To Strangers." She cut several more albums for them in the next five years, including a with-strings session, and a guest spot on one of saxophonist Gene Ammons's many records.

In 1968, at a Washington, D.C. gig, Etta teamed up with tenor saxophonist, Houston Person and his trio. They decided to work together and formed a partnership that lasted over 30 years. She toured Japan with Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers in 1970, but after her final date for Prestige in 1965, she did not make another album until 1976, when she cut “Ms Jones To You” for Muse.

Her closest collaborator in that period was Houston Person, and they cut a string of well-received recordings from the mid-70’s onward, including the Grammy nominated albums “Save Your Love For Me,” (1981) and “My Buddy: Etta Jones Sings the Songs of Buddy Johnson” (1999). They developed an appealing, highly intuitive style of musical response, and were always jointly billed. The pair was married for a time, and he became her manager, and produced most of her subsequent records, initially for Muse Records, and then its successor, High Note.

Never Forget to Say Thank You

by Mary Foster Conklin
December 16, 2019

This week we feature Grammy nominees and finalists from the Hot House/Jazzmobile NYC Readers Jazz Awards, a new release from Alice Ricciardi and Pietro Lussu, plus birthday shout outs to June Christy, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mandel, Etta Jones, pianist Geoffrey Keezer and Michelle Ann May of Musique Noire, among others. Playlist Musique Noire “Pretty Ugly" from Reflections We Breathe (Self released) 00:00 Catherine Russell “Early In the Morning" from Alone Together (Dot Time) 06:28 Carmen Lundy “Ola De ...

Album Review

Etta Jones: A Soulful Sunday - Live At The Left bank

Read "A Soulful Sunday - Live At The Left bank" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
March 15, 2019

Pochi si ricordano di Etta Jones e qualcuno la confonderà con {Etta James}}. A dispetto delle alte doti tecniche e interpretative, la cantante non ha avuto i riconoscimenti che meritava. Cresciuta ad Harlem, debuttò negli anni '40 nelle serate per debuttanti dell'Apollo Theater, si fece le ossa con Pete Johnson, Barney Bigard ed Earl Hines, ottenne un improvviso successo nel 1960 con il brano “Don't Go To Strangers" e toccò la piena maturità alla fine dei settanta incidendo per la ...

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Album Review

Etta Jones: Don't Go to Strangers

Read "Don't Go to Strangers" reviewed by Jim Santella

by Jim Santella
April 16, 2007

"Don't Go to Strangers was Etta Jones' trademark song. She could make any jazz standard come alive, though, and she did on this 1960 Prestige album with a line-up of jazz all-stars. Together, band and vocalist tell the stories with a genuine spirit. The sound is superb. Jones and the band are in sync, and the mood fits pure jazz like a glove.

Some readers are apt to confuse Etta Jones with Etta James. We remember Jones because ...

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Extended Analysis

Etta Jones: Don't Go To Strangers

by Samuel Chell
March 8, 2007

Etta Jones Don't Go To Strangers [Remastered RVG Edition] Prestige 2006

Mention Etta Jones to casual followers of the jazz vocal scene, and brace yourself for a quizzical expression in return. Or if the name produces a spark of recognition, wait long enough for the frequent retraction ("Oh, I thought you meant Etta James") before comparing notes. For an artist whose career spanned nearly sixty years and yielded no small number of memorable recordings, ...

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Profile

Remembering Etta Jones

by Mathew Bahl
February 21, 2007

There always seemed to be something indestructible about Etta Jones. You could hear it best on up-tempo tunes when she would swing with a joyful abandon and an almost godlike authority. But even when she sang the most tragic and heart wrenching of ballads--and she sang more than her share of tragic, heart wrenching ballads--Jones conveyed a resilient inner core. You knew that when the crying and heartache were over, she would pick up the pieces and move on. She ...

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Album Review

Etta Jones: Hollar

by David Rickert
July 1, 2001

Etta Jones is one of many singers who find it hard to escape the large shadow cast by songbirds like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, but still manage to create music filled with verve, grace, and sophistication. Hollar is an odd title for a record as subdued and mannered as this one is; Jones is much more silky and seductive than she is bellowing and boisterous. Essentially, this record is made up of three separate sessions, where Jones is mostly ...

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Album Review

Cedar Walton: Three Sundays In The Seventies

Read "Three Sundays In The Seventies" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
December 1, 2000

Label M launched its new enterprise with a stunning live and previously unreleased concert by Stan Getz at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore. With more than 200 tapes recorded by Baltimore's Left Bank Jazz Society legally in its possession, the label continues to remaster and enhance the tapes from a home recorder that captured the spirit of the concerts. In some respects, the Society recorded during what has become a golden age for some of the greatest musicians in jazz.

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Music Industry

Etta Jones: Highly Respected Jazz Singer

Source: All About Jazz

Etta Jones was a fine jazz singer who made the most of her vocal talents. Although she had a major hit with "Don't Go To Strangers" in 1960, and was nominated for Grammy Awards in 1981 and 1999, she never became a household name on the level of her idols and principal influences, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. She retained a loyal following wherever she sang, however, and was held in the highest regard by her ...
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Music Industry