Jones rose to prominence in the early 1960s playing in the bands from Milt Jackson , Roland Kirk , to Frank Foster in 1965 . Around 1970 he worked in the soul-jazzenvironment with musicians such as Charles Earland , Harold Mabern ( Wailin’ ), Don Patterson , Houston Person , Grover Washington Jr. , Johnny Hammond Smith and Sonny Stitt . In 1972 he played in The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band ( The Alpine Power Planet ); In 1973 he was a member of McCoy Tyner ‘s big band (Song of the New World ). In 1975 Jones played in Billy Harper’s quintet ( Black Saint ). In the late 1980s he played again in McCoy Tyner’s band ( Uptown/Downtown ); in the late 1990s he was involved with TS Monk ‘s album Monk on Monk , played with Teddy Edwards and was involved in the big band production Shade of Jade in the Joe Henderson Band.
Jones also contributed to the Broadway performance of the musicals Black and Blue and Jelly’s Last Jam and Jelly’s Red Hot Peppers respectively , and scored the films Ed’s Next Move (1996) and She’s Gotta Have It (1986 directed by Spike Lee ). He can also be heard on the album Coolin’ ‘N Groovin’ (1995), on which he u. starred with Chuck Rainey , Bernard Purdie and Lou Donaldson.