A birthday tip of the hi-hat to drumming legend “Papa” Jo Jones (1911-1985), born 109 years ago on this day in Chicago. The National Endowment for the Arts, which named him an NEA Jazz Master in 1985, says he is “credited with the transfer of the essential pulse of jazz music from the bass drum to the hi-hat cymbal.” Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from the mid 1930s through 1948. Here he is playing with Louis Armstrong on “The Dick Cavett Show” in 1971 and here delivering a sweet drum solo (circa 1964).
