Jones was born in Aiken, South Carolina,[1] where her parents named her after another Etta Jones, a member of the Dandridge Sisters.[3] She was raised in Harlem, New York, where she began performing as a teenager. After she impressed Buddy Johnson at an amateur night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, he invited her to join his band as a vocalist while his sister, Ella Johnson, was on maternity leave.[3] Still in her teens, she joined the band for a tour although she was not featured on record. Her first recordings—"Salty Papa Blues", "Evil Gal Blues", "Blow Top Blues", and "Long, Long Journey"—were produced by Leonard Feather in 1944, placing her in the company of clarinetist Barney Bigard and tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld.[1]
During the 1950s, Jones sought to obtain a recording contract, while working as a seamstress, elevator operator, and album stuffer. In 1956, she released the album The Jones Girl...Etta...Sings, Sings, Sings. She obtained a contract in 1960 with Prestige Records after impressing Prestige's preparatory director, Esmond Edwards, with her singing's warmth and phrasing via an unsolicited demo tape. Her first single, "Don't Go to Strangers," hit number five on the Rhythm and Blues chart, and 36 in pop charts, at a time when pop charts were dominated by white men. Over the next three years, she recorded ten albums for Prestige. Her favorite songwriter to cover was Sammy Cahn, and she also favored Harold Arlen, George and Ira Gershwin, and Cole Porter.[3]
Partnership with Houston Person
Following these recordings, on which Jones was featured with high-profile arrangers such as Oliver Nelson and jazz stars such as Frank Wess, Roy Haynes, and Gene Ammons, she had a musical partnership of more than 30 years with tenor saxophonist Houston Person, who received equal billing with her.[6] He also produced her albums and served as her manager after the pair met in one of Johnny "Hammond" Smith's bands.
Although Etta Jones is likely to be remembered above all for her recordings on Prestige, she had a very productive musical career in the last two decades of her life. She had a close professional relationship with Person (frequently, but mistakenly, identified as Jones's husband), and they performed together for decades. Starting in 1976, they began recording for Muse, which later changed its name to HighNote. Person became her manager, as well as her record producer and accompanist, in a partnership that lasted until her death in 2001.[7] They performed up to 200 times a year until she had to stop due to her health. Jones had dealt with cancer for more than a decade until the time of her death and had a mastectomy and chemotherapy.[3]
She died in Mount Vernon, New York, at the age of 72, from cancer.[2][7] Jones was survived by her husband, John Medlock, and a granddaughter, Lia Greatheart-Mitchell. Pearson arranged her funeral at one of their frequent performance venues, a church in Mount Vernon, New York. Jazz musicians including Melba Liston played tribute to Jones at the funeral.[3]
Jones earned the Eubie Blake Jazz Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women in Jazz Foundation.[11]
Discography
The Jones Girl...Etta...Sings, Sings, Sings (King, 1958)
