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Jazz Age: Isham Jones Orch. - All Wrong, 1923

1,524 views · Published 9 September 2016 · 3:04 · Indexed 26 October 2026

Channel: 240252 · 2016 · Music

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Isham Jones Orchestra - All Wrong, Fox-Trot (Martin-Jones), Brunswick 1923 (USA)

NOTE: Isham Jones' band was one of the most influential and most successful dance orchestras of the 1920s and early 1930s. While his name may have begun to slip from public consciousness, many of the songs written by him continue to live on, like "It Had To Be You", "Swinging Down the Lane", "How Many Tears", "On the Alamo", "Spain" and "More Than Ever". 

Born in 1894 in Ohio, but raised in Saginaw, Michigan, in his teen years Jones assembled his first band, performing at the local church. In 1915, he moved to Chicago to further his musical studies, while at night, he led his own trio at 'Mahoney's Club'. Jones played piano, violin, tenor saxophone and string bass and by 1919, he fronted an orchestra which toured hotels and dance palaces in Michigan and Pennsylvania, including the Rainbow Gardens in Chicago, to establish later a six year residency at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago. In 1924, Jones also started his national and overseas tours, as result, the Isham Jones Orchestra evolved into one of the most popular dance bands in America. Its personnel included at various times Woody Herman, Pee Wee Erwin, Jack Jenney, Clarence Willard and George Thow, and the superior arrangements were written by Jones himself, Gordon Jenkins and future Hollywood composer Victor Young. One of the biggest hits for the band was a 1930 recording of Hoagy Carmichael's "Star Dust", before lyrics to the song had even been written.
However, at the height of his popularity, Isham Jones suddenly decided to go into retirement. In 1936, he handed leadership  to Woody Herman, to devote more time to composing and arranging. By the 1940's, he had left the music scene altogether, operating a general store in Colorado. In 1955, he moved to Florida and died a year later in Hollywood, California.

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