Celebrating the late Hank Jones

Photo Credit: Photo by Tom Pich/tompich.com¸

To celebrate Black History Month, we decided to mine the archives and revisit my interview with pianist, NEA Jazz Master and National Medal of Arts recipient Hank Jones. Born in 1918, Jones began performing by the time he was 13, and he continued performing and recording until his death in 2010. His career contains much of jazz history—with 60 solo albums and literally thousands on which he was a sideman. And his family history is entwined with jazz as well: two of his brothers--trumpeter Thad and drummer Elvin-- were great and well-known jazz musicians. Always in demand for record dates and tours, Hank Jones played and recorded with a who’s who in the jazz world, including bandleaders like  Coleman Hawkins, Billy Eckstine, Howard McGhee, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman and with artists such as Charlie Parker Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley, and Wes Montgomery. He was Ella Fitzgerald’s accompanist for almost five years and served as the original pianist of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. He was an eloquent and lyrical pianist with an unmistakable style.  I spoke with him in 2008 when he had been awarded the National Medal of Arts, and as you’ll hear, Hank Jones was elegant, humorous, and happy to talk about his extraordinary life in music. Enjoy!

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