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John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) birthday - TIMH

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January 3, 2016 at 9:39am
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Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones, these are the names that will rock your bones. Before Jones was rocking bones, before he was even called Jones, he was born John Baldwin today in 1946. The son of a musician, John Baldwin picked up a guitar at age six and by age 14 was the organist and choir director at his church. He was inspired to learn bass after hearing a Phil Upchurch song.

Baldwin changed his name to John Paul Jones and started playing in local London bands as a teenager. In 1962 he joined a more successful band, The Shadows, and in 1964 Jones started working as a session musician for Decca Records. Jones contributed not only bass but also performing keyboard and arrangement duties for some major bands, including the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, Cat Stevens and Donovan.

Jones met an incredible number of musicians through his session work. One of those musicians was guitarist Jimmy Page, who Jones had played with previously, notably on Jeff Beck’s song “Beck’s Bolero”. Page and Jones were reunited on Donovan’s 1968 album, “The Hurdy Gurdy Man”. (John Bonham also appeared on the album.) Jones knew that Page was trying to resurrect the ashes of The Yardbirds and asked Page if he needed a bass player. Page was well aware of Jones’ musical and technical prowess and quickly brought Jones on board.

The Yardbirds had split up and Page was contractually bound to finish a tour. With Jones in place, Page still needed a drummer and singer. He tapped two country boys, Robert Plant and John Bonham, to join the two city boys in The New Yardbirds. After completing the tour the band changed their name to Led Zeppelin and proceeded to become one of the greatest rock bands in history.

When your lineup boasts arguably the greatest drummer in rock, arguably the greatest guitarist and arguably the greatest vocalist, it can be easy to get lost in the shadow of the spotlight. To a degree this happened to Jones but he seemed to embrace it. His relative anonymity allowed Jones to enjoy life on the road and life in general out of the public eye. While on tour, Jones was known to leave the hotel by himself and go out on the town. One of those escapades was immortalized on the Led Zeppelin song “Royal Orleans”. It’s quite a story, and one I can’t do justice to, so please read it here

Jones’ contribution to Led Zeppelin cannot be overstated and, unfortunately, is often rather understated. Virtually all of the string arrangements, keyboards and atmospherics that separated Zeppelin from yet another English band playing American blues came from Jones. Jones also co-wrote some of Zeppelin’ biggest songs, including “Good Times Bad Times”, “Communication Breakdown”, “Whole Lotta Love”, “Heartbreaker”, “Black Dog”, “Rock and Roll”, “When the Levee Breaks”, “No Quarter”, and “The Ocean”.

Jones continued working after the breakup of Led Zeppelin in 1980. He produced albums for a variety of bands like the Butthole Surfers and Heart and he did the string arrangements for R.E.M.’s “Automatic for the People” album in 1992. Jones also kept busy performing with other artists, including Ben Harper, Peter Gabriel, Foo Fighters, and Lenny Kravitz. Jones released his first solo album, ”Zooma”, in 1999 and released his second, “The Thunderchief”,  in 2001.

Jones joined with Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters to form Them Crooked Vultures. They released their self-titled debut in 2009 and it reached #12 on the album chart, Jones’ best showing since the 1980s. Most recently appeared on American bluesman Seasick Steve’s “Hubcap Music” album in 2013.

Jones has sold over 200 million albums during his career and influenced many notable bassists, including Steve Harris from Iron Maiden, Gene Simmons from KISS, Geddy Lee from Rush, John Deacon from Queen, and Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. John Paul Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

 

Led Zeppelin – “No Quarter” off the album “The Song Remains the Same” 1976:

Led Zeppelin – “Royal Orleans” off the album “Presence” 1979:

John Paul Jones – “Bass ‘n Drums” off the album Zooma 1999:

John Paul Jones - “The Thunderthief” off the album “The Thunderthief” 2001:

Them Crooked Vultures – Scumbag Blues 2009:

Seasick Steve and John Paul Jones – “Last Po’ Man” live 2012:

John Paul Jones, Seasick Steve, Alison Mosshart and Jack White (Mississippi Fred McDowell cover) - "Write Me a Few Lines" live 2011:

 

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