trumpeter, cornetist
22.03.1934 - 13.02.2019
Conrad R. "Connie" Jones III was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist from New Orleans.
He took up the trumpet at age 10 and switched to the more mellow cornet some years later. His first professional band was the Basin Street Six, a traditional New Orleans jazz group led by him and Pete Fountain. Fountain became Jones' long-time friend and collaborator. He was also a fishing buddy of trumpeter Al Hirt.
Before starting his own group, Jones played in the bands of Billy Maxted and Santo Pecora. He was also in Jack Teagarden's group when Teagarden died in 1964, and served as a pallbearer at the famed trombonist’s funeral. As a bandleader he played in the Blue Angel nightclub and later aboard the Mississippi steamboat Delta Queen. In 2008, Jones recorded the album Creole Nocturne with pianist Tom McDermott and "If Dreams Come True" in 2011 with clarinettist Tim Laughlin.
He was featured at venues worldwide, including The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Satchmo SummerFest, the Evergreen Jazz Festival (to name a few). Jones was a founder of the French Quarter Festival and served as chair of its entertainment committee for twenty-two years. His band (The Crescent City Jazz Band) was the opening act of the festival for nine years in a row, followed by a long run of openings by the Connie Jones All-Stars. He continued to perform at the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans until his retirement in 2016.
Connie Jones is renowned as one of the most talented musicians to emerge from New Orleans and received an honorary degree from Loyola University in May 2012.
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