Jones, Richard M. (June 13, 1892 - December 8, 1945)

Richard M. Jones (June 13, 1892 - December 8, 1945), born Richard Marigny Jones, was an American jazz pianist, band leader, record producer, and composer. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jones played alto horn in brass bands as a kid. Eventually, however, his main instrument became the piano. He was playing in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, by 1908, and soon began leading his own band. He also worked in the bands of John Robichaux, Armand J. Piron, and Papa Celestin. Jones moved to Chicago in 1918, where he found work as the Chicago manager for Clarence Williams, a publisher and pianist. In 1923, Jones began recording, first as a solo pianist, then as an accompanist to vocalists and with his bands The Jazz Wizards and The Chicago Cosmopolitans. Throughout the rest of the 1920s, Jones recorded with Victor, Gennet, Okeh, and Paramount Records and worked as Chicago supervisor of Okeh Records 'Race' (African-American) Records for most of the 1920s. He held a similar management role for Decca Records in the 1930s and then moved on to Mercury Records until his death.