Mr. Trumpet Roger Jones

September 01, 2024

Explore the music of “Mr. Trumpet” Roger Jones, a legendary Indianapolis jazz musician who performed with artists including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Wes Montgomery, Sarah Vaughan and others. During the mid-20th century, Jones was considered the top trumpet player in Indianapolis.

Jones was born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1913. By the time he was a teenager, Jones was living in Indianapolis, studying music with Harold Brown at Crispus Attucks High School. Jones began perfprming professionally as a teenager with the Brown Buddies band, and he played some of his first gigs on the Avenue. During the late 1930s, Jones left Indianapolis with the Don Redman Orchestra, for the next decade, he worked regularly with the greatest icons of jazz.