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Wizz Jones | |
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 Jones at the Norwich Folk Festival, England, 1978, playing his trademark 1963Epiphone Texan guitar | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Raymond Ronald Jones |
| Born | (1939-04-25)25 April 1939 (age 85) Thornton Heath,Surrey, England |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | Late 1950s–present |
| Labels |
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| Website | www |
Raymond Ronald Jones (born 25 April 1939),[1] better-known asWizz Jones, is an English acoustic guitarist, andsinger-songwriter. He was born inThornton Heath,Surrey,England and has been performing since the late 1950s andrecording from 1965 to the present. He has worked with many of the notable guitarists of theBritish folk revival, such asJohn Renbourn andBert Jansch.
Jones became infatuated with the bohemian image ofWoody Guthrie andJack Kerouac and grew his hair long. His mother had started calling him Wizzy after theBeanocomic strip character "Wizzy the Wuz" because at the age of nine Raymond was a budding magician. The nickname stuck throughout his school years and when he formed his first band, "The Wranglers", in 1957 the name became permanent. Bert Jansch later said, "I think he's the most underrated guitarist ever." In the early 1960s he wentbusking in Paris, France, and there mixed in an artistic circle that includedRod Stewart,Alex Campbell,Clive Palmer (Incredible String Band) andRalph McTell. After a couple of years travelling throughout Europe and North Africa he returned to England,[1] and married his long-time girlfriend Sandy to raise a family.
In 1965, his only single was released:Bob Dylan's "Ballad of Hollis Brown". By this time theskiffle boom was over but one of the stars of that movement,Chas McDevitt, used Jones' guitar-playing on five albums in 1965 and 1966. Another musician on those sessions was thebluegrassbanjo-player, Pete Stanley.[1] In 1966, Jones and Stanley released an album,Sixteen Tons of Bluegrass,[2] but this partnership broke down in 1967, as Jones then turned solo.[1]
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Jones started to become a singer-songwriter. His first solo album wasWizz Jones in 1969.[1] Eight of the songs were written by his long-time friendAlan Tunbridge. Up to 1988, ten solo albums followed and he played onRalph McTell's single "Easy" in 1974.Steve Tilston was also guided by Jones, through the early stages of his career. Jones was once described as having 'a right hand worthy of Broonzy', referring to the blues guitaristBig Bill Broonzy. Most of his recordings from this period are long out of print.
He briefly joined acoustic folk-rock group Accolade (other band membersDon Partridge, Brian Cresswell and Malcolm Poole) in 1971 as backing guitarist, and is featured on the group's second album,Accolade II. Another brief excursion, as a member of the traditional folk bandLazy Farmer in 1975,[1] produced an album that was reissued in 2006. Jones has always maintained a high level of popularity in Germany, since the mid–1970s, and he stills tours mainland Europe every year. The early 1990s were a quiet period, when he almost disappeared from public view.
When in the mid-1990s he appeared on the Bert Jansch television documentary,Acoustic Routes, there was renewed interest in his work. In 2001, he ledJohn Renbourn and other members ofPentangle on the albumLucky The Man. In 2007,The Legendary Me andWhen I Leave Berlin were reissued on CD by the Sunbeamrecord label.
On 30 May 2012,Bruce Springsteen opened the sold-out Wrecking Ball concert at Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, with Jones's song, "When I Leave Berlin".[3]
In 2015, Jones toured with John Renbourn, playing a mixture of solo and duo material, before Renbourn died in March that year. An album by the pair, titledJoint Control, was released in 2016.[4]
(*) withJohn Renbourn,Sue Draheim, and others. (**) withBert Jansch. (***) includes recordings from 1970 to 1974. (****) with Simeon Jones.
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