John Paul Jones - Instrumental To Success

Led Zeppelin’s keyboard and bass guitar player, John Paul Jones, was destined for the stage. He was born in Sidcup, Kent, England on January 3, 1946. His show business parents travelled with a musical comedy act.

John Paul recalls having been on the road with them from the tender age of two! His dad was also an accomplished jazz musician, who played with Britain’s renowned Ambrose Orchestra in the big band era of the 1940s.

He encouraged his son to study the rudiments and theory of music. John Paul’s first love was the organ, which he played at church as a young boy.

At fourteen, he became interested in the bass guitar while attending Christ College boarding school. Graduating close to the age of seventeen, he played bass proficiently enough to audition for a British group called Jet Harris & Tony Meehan.

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The Early Days Of JPJ’s Career

The band had a #1 single called Diamonds and played many different styles of music. However, its jazz-based selections weren’t really appreciated by English audiences at the time.

When John Paul Jones auditioned for Jet Harris & Tony Meehan, his talent and intellect, his cocky confidence yet shy reserve all proved an irresistible combination. They hired him on the spot and he became a professional musician.

JPJ made a huge contribution to the overall success of Jet Harris & Tony Meehan. They toured together for a year and a half before the band broke up. Percussionist Tony Meehan understood John Paul’s importance to any rhythm section.

Drummers and bassists have to share a musical bond and play in tandem to be successful in any band.When Meehan started freelancing for Decca Records, he often hired Jones to play with him for many studio sessions.

Building A Solid Foundation

John Paul Jones was making a very good living from his session recordings, especially for the period of 1963-64. More importantly, he was gaining invaluable practical studio experience that would serve him well later on.

The studio scene in London during the mid 1960s was extremely competitive and rife with nepotism. It was not easy to get in on the ground floor. But thanks to Jones’ talent and connection to Tony Meehan, he did it.

During the mid-1960s, the bass guitar’s potential was not being realized. The instrument had long been relegated to second-class status compared to lead guitar. JPJ was to have a tremendous impact on changing that, thanks to his love of Motown.

Motown Inspired More Than The Music

John Paul Jones was trained in classical music and jazz. His idols included bassists Charlie Mingus and Ray Brown. But his love of Motown served as his greatest inspiration. It would lead him to revolutionize the British recording industry.

One of the reasons that the bass guitar lacked the respect it deserved is because no one was hearing it on recordings! There were physical limitations to the recording process that precluded low-register sound from being captured.

When I interviewed Led Zeppelin author, Robert Godwin, he told me that JPJ was intrigued by how the Motown engineers had finally figured out how to accurately capture the “bottom end” or bass guitar and bass drum.

Put too much bottom end on a record when mastering it and the lathe cutting the lacquer would skip. The grooves wouldn’t be precisely and properly laid down. This could even damage the expensive magnetic cartridge on people’s record players.

How JPJ Changed The Record

But Motown got it right! John Paul Jones could actually hear what Chicago bass guitarist, Phil Upchurch, was playing on his recording of You Can’t Sit Down. Another bassist he admired – and whose music he could hear – was James Jamerson.

Working with other sound engineers, JPJ put Motown’s secret to good use on Britain’s recording scene. Finally, the bass guitar was being heard note for note and appreciated for its valuable contribution to the rhythm section.

This significant advance in recording technology, coupled with Jones’ stellar musicianship, catapulted the bass guitar into the limelight it had long deserved to share. The timing was perfect, because Jones was beginning to tire of just playing bass guitar sessions.

His pioneering knowledge of the recording process afforded him with new artistic challenges. He satisfied his creative craving by branching out into arranging music and providing general studio direction. He was also expanding his expertise on various keyboard instruments.

Arranging To Be The Best

One of the defining moments of John Paul Jones’ career was when he began arranging music for Donovan Phillips Leitch. Known simply as Donovan, the Scottish-born musician was like a British Bob Dylan, setting his poetry to folk-rock music.

But in 1966, Donovan would veer off the path of Dylanesque pop folk and venture into hallucinogenic drug-inspired psychedelia. Sunshine Superman was Donovan’s first huge international hit and is considered to be among the very first psychedelic songs.

While John Paul’s involvement in Sunshine Superman is the subject of some debate, he was definitely hired by Donovan to arrange Mellow Yellow. Released in October 1966, the song and album were huge hits, solidifying Jones’ reputation as an arranger.

Jones And Page Connect In Studio

The studio work of John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page served to forge a connection born of mutual respect for each other’s abilities and work ethic. Both musicians were in extremely high demand for their session work.

Hurdy Gurdy Man was released in May of 1968. Donovan himself has said that three members of the future Led Zeppelin – Page, Jones and John Bonham – all contributed some tracks on it.

Jones’ studio successes continued to pile up. He arranged the hit single She’s a Rainbow for The Rolling Stones and also some of the songs on that group’s album, Their Satanic Majesties Request.

While JPJ’s work for producer Mickie Most and bands like Herman’s Hermits was paying the bills, it was not very satisfying. Indeed, the rigours and monotony of studio sessions were taking their toll and he yearned for more creative work.

In the summer of 1968, he was about to get his wish.

A New Chapter Begins

In August, John Paul Jones heard through the musical grapevine that Jimmy Page was urgently looking for new musicians. His group, The Yardbirds, had disbanded leaving him with a contractual obligation to tour Scandinavia.

Jones’ wife, Maureen, knew how bored and stifled John Paul had been feeling in the studio. Mo urged him to call Page and enquire if he might become his new bass guitarist.

Page knew of JPJ’s sterling reputation in the studio and had first-hand experience of his work. In 1998, I interviewed George Chkiantz, a tape operator at Olympic Studios where the debut Led Zeppelin album and others would be recorded.

He told me that Jones’ arranging skills meant he was in even greater demand than Page! When Chkiantz heard they were putting a new band together, he said, “I thought such a merging of these musicians would hold great promise.”

Jones’ Flight Into Music History

We’ve just taken a very brief look at the amazing life and achievements of John Paul Jones but only up until the time he joined Led Zeppelin. The best is definitely yet to come!

So bookmark this page and come back often as we explore the depths of Jones’ incredible career with the Mighty Zep and beyond. We’ll see how his classical music training influenced the group’s performances and compositions.

I’ll give you musical examples from Zeppelin’s catalogue that showcase his talent on specific instruments: Mellotron on The Rain Song, clavinet on Trampled Underfoot, even grand piano on South Bound Saurez. Of course, bass guitar on Dazed and Confused.

Did you know? The classical-jazz version of Tchaikovsky he inserted into No Quarter was different every night Zeppelin performed it on tour in 1977. As were its piano solos in 1975 and ’79. There’s so much to learn together. Stay tuned!

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