Sunday, December 24, 2006

One Shot Wonders, pt. 11

see below for intro

INEZ JONES (11)
In 1993 on U.S. TV there was a documentary about couples who had been together or married for a very long time. One pair was singer-pianist Inez Jones and her husband, Paul Jones, a sax player. They lived in Oakland, California in touching genteel poverty. They sat in their rundown kitchen, he played a wobbly but credible sax, and she sang and played. Alternately they reminisced about their life together and the Kansas City jazz scene where they both began their professional careers. I had never heard of her, but at the peak of her popularity in the 1950s she played the posh Fairmont Hotel in SF. She also cut a record for the Riverside label that was reviewed very favorably in Downbeat and which I subsequently purchased. Here are two cuts from it:

PLAY TRACK Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me, Where or When

Both Joneses are now deceased but the large plot of land where their house once stood in Oakland , California is now the "Paul and Inez Jones Neighborhood Garden," a gorgeous place of flowers, food, butterflies and birds for residents in the area to enjoy.

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