The music of Indiana jazz trumpeter Reunald Jones – Part 1

June 22, 2025

Listen to the first episode in our three-part series exploring the music of Reunald Jones, an important jazz trumpet player with deep connections to the Avenue neighborhood. During his legendary career, Jones performed with the biggest stars in American music, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, Dinah Washington, Quincy Jones, Nat King Cole and many others. 

Jones was born in Indianapolis in 1922. Music was part of his family legacy, his father John Wesley Jones was a musician, and his cousin Roy Eldridge, was a famous jazz trumpet star. Jones’ family had strong ties to the Avenue neighborhood. During the early 1900s, his father was a choral director for the Bethe A.M.E. church and a bandleader, for the Senate Avenue YMCA. In the 1930s, his sister, Louise Fields, was an editor for the Indianapolis Recorder. 

After spending the first decade of his life in Indianapolis, Jones moved with his family to Muncie, Indiana. By age 15, Jones was playing trumpet in a local Muncie band that included Doc Wheeler on trombone. Wheeler became a star on the Avenue scene during the 1930s. In the early 1940s, Jones and Wheeler reunited for a series of recordings with Bluebird Records. 

By age 20, Jones left Muncie to pursue a life in music. He performed with a variety of regional territory bands, including Speed Webb’s Hoosier Melody Lads, where he had the chance to play with his cousin Roy Eldridge. By the mid 1930s, Jones was in New York, where he began his recording career. 

Join us this week to hear Jones’ early recordings with Mezz Mezzrow, Lil Hardin, Don Redman, Jimmie Lunceford and more.