'Dr. Jazz' Howard Jones mourned

Band mates, family and many more are mourning the sudden loss this week of Jackson jazz fixture Howard Jones, 79, who died Wednesday at St. Dominic Hospital following a brief illness.

Dr. Jazz to fans and Poppy to family, he'd played a music gig as recently as Dec. 2, at Underground 119. The funeral is Friday, with visitation at 9 a.m. and services at 11 a.m. at St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral.

"Talk about an icon — I know my heart's broken. What a wonderful man," Bill Ellison said of his longtime friend and musical cohort with a history in the Vernon Brothers bluegrass band and a few times in the New Bourbon Street Jazz Society, spanning bluegrass to Dixieland jazz.

Ellison sifted through a chock-full memory bank for a telling one. "Every time I saw him, I'd say, 'Howard, how are you doing?' and he'd always say, 'Everything is just right.' And he meant it. He lived life like that."

Jones' main instrument was the trombone, but he played upright bass with the Vernon Brothers in the mid-1980s. "Howard liked variety. He played all kinds of music," Ellison said. Bluegrass often involved playing the same songs over and over. "We were trying to get him to hang around and jam, and he said, 'Well, not if you're going to play that same old stuff!" Ellison said, chuckling fondly. "He wanted to be challenged with something different."

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London Branch, who played upright bass in the Howard Jones Band (which could range from two to five musicians) said, "It's of course, a big loss to me. Howard and I were friends for over 30 years," and played together just as long.

"I will really miss him for many reasons. Howard was a fun-loving guy who was always happy. ... He was fun to play with because he seemed to enjoy playing so much. He just seemed to live for that," Branch said. "Dr. Jazz" was both Jones' nickname and his license tag.

Branch recalled some of their most enjoyable times playing at churches in Bolton and Bovina, a couple of times a year. "We'd play for the service and we would play hymns, but we'd play them in a jazz style, and the people just loved it. ... They always invited us back and we became sort of part of their family."

Hal & Mal's Malcolm White recalled Jones as the "elder statesmen" of the Vernon Brothers, a staple at the restaurant who he booked on "every show imaginable" from WellsFest to national acts, and later in a one-man band project supported by the Mississippi Arts Commission when White was its executive director. "And then there was just Howard the great Jacksonian who supported all things good, showed up for everything, was a great citizen, had great civic pride.

"I'm just shocked and saddened but appreciate very much the legacy that Howard left, and the energy and enthusiasm that he had for the world of arts, culture and just for our community."

Jones brought a distinctive character and style of playing to the stage and was always quick with a quip, Jackson bass player Raphael Semmes said. He noted Jones' versatility, from Dixieland to bluegrass. "It takes a pretty good musician to cover the bases like that, you know?

"Howard was a bigger-than-life personality, but he had a really good heart. ... And at his age, he loved music and playing music as much now as I think he ever did when he was younger."

Jones' son, lawyer John "Johnny" Griffin Jones, called him "just the most natural musician I've ever seen," who could pick up the bass guitar for his grandson Morgan's band King Elementary and lay down the perfect bass track after hearing a hard-driving rock 'n' roll song just once. "He knew where the sound needed to be. He was just a genius about that."

But "as talented and gifted musician that he was, he was even a more gifted dad," who'd wed Johnny's mother in 1963 at age 26 and adopted him and his brother, Jimmy (Dr. James Spencer Jones), in 1965, Johnny Jones said. "He went from being an extremely gifted, talented musician with a great future as a professional musician, to take on the responsibilities of being a dad to 8-year-old and 10-year-old boys and never once faltered in that commitment or looked back with any regret on what he didn't do or what he gave up to be the father he was to us. And, that's something."

To contact Sherry Lucas, email slucas@gannett.com or call (601) 961-7283. Follow @SherryLucas1 on Twitter.