Henry W. (Hank) Jones, Jr., Doctor of Humanities
Henry W. (Hank) Jones, Jr. received an honorary doctorate degree from Oakland University, was an internationally recognized musician, noted for a lifetime of achievement as a jazz piano luminary. Held in the highest esteem by his peers, critics, and audiences, Hank Jones’s long career in jazz music has contributed to the development of this art form in the twentieth century, both as a soloist and as a valued sideman.
Born in Mississippi, Mr. Jones moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where his father was a Baptist deacon. The eldest of seven children, Jones was raised in a family of musicians that included brothers Thad Jones, cornetist, and Elvin Jones, drummer. He was the surviving member of this gifted musical family until 2010. Growing up in Pontiac, Mr. Jones listened to such musicians as Earl Hines, Fats Waller, and Art Tatum, the latter an especially important influence on Hank’s career. In his teen-age years, he joined the Detroit-based bands of Benny Carew and Ted Buckner. While touring in Lansing and Grand Rapids, he met Detroit saxophonist Lucky Thompson, who invited him to New York.
After moving to New York City in 1944, he worked alongside bandleaders such as Billy Eckstine, toured with Ella Fitzgerald for several years, and made recordings with the legendary Charlie Parker. Mr. Jones has worked with some of the greatest names of bebop jazz, including Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Julian “Cannonball” Adderly. He toured with leading jazz groups, and has performed at the leading jazz festivals throughout the world. In addition, Mr. Jones worked in the 1960s at CBS with big bands, such as the Ray Block Orchestra on the Ed Sullivan Show, and continued to tour and record with Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra from 1966. Because of “his rare combination of talents as a strong soloist, sensitive accompanist, and adept sight-reader, Jones has always been in great demand for recording sessions of all kinds, and may be heard on hundreds of albums.” (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001)
Mr. Jones, bridged the eras of pre-bop and bebop, influenced other pianists for more than half a century. According to Ben Waltzer, who interviewed Hank Jones for an article in The New York Times in 2001, “Mr. Jones’s greatness consists of his use of musical balance as an expressive tool. His quietude is never complacent. His vigor is never bombastic. His taste crystallizes his playing, making it centered and direct in a casual, unassuming way. But if one asks Mr. Jones for advice, he’ll just repeat what he told me with a laugh: ‘Play the right chords at the right time.’“ (“A Quiet Man with Voluble Fingers,” The New York Times, June 24, 2001.) Oakland University is pleased to recognize Hank Jones, whose distinguished career as a musician has shaped and influenced the art of jazz piano for more than seventy years
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