William Jones Biography

Not to be confused with the Willie Jones who led an orchestra out of Richmond, IN, in the ’20s, William Jones is a tenor saxophonist who was part of another territory band several decades later, led by alto saxophonist Sherman Williams. The painting company of the same name uses the slogan “we cover the earth,” but this is the direct opposite of what the territory bands did, which was to perform in a two-or three-state area. The Williams group was thus active covering a small part of the Earth from the mid-’40s to the early ’50s, a period in which the sound of R&B or jump music was stirred up out of equal parts blues and swing. Tenor saxophonists such as Jones had an important role as soloists in these proceedings, emphasized even further in the case of a bandleader who was a saxophonist himself such as Williams. Jones was not the best-known member of this group, whose activities are documented on the Chronological Sherman Williams: 1947-1951 release on the Classics label. The group’s stars were singer Iona Wade, who later worked with James Moody’s band in the mid-’50s, and pianist Skippy Brooks, known for his contributions to many sides on the Excello label.