Jazz pianist Hank Jones will forever be remembered as the man playing the piano during Marilyn Monroe's famous 'Happy Birthday Mr. President' performance in 1962. However, the six times Grammy Award winning musician's career encompassed a far wider musical spectrum than the presidential cabaret slot and Jones was a highly respected bandleader, arranger and composer as well as an outstanding jazz pianist.

He is the brother of jazz drummer Elvin Jones and trumpeter Thad Jones both of whom had successful careers in their own right. At the age of 13 he was regularly playing local gigs and by the time he was in his twenties he was an accomplished pianist finding work at top venues alongside well known names. At the age of 30 he joined Ella Fitzgerald as her accompanist and toured the UK in 1948. At this time Jones formed an association with Charlie Parker and featured on some of Parker's best known recordings including 'The Song Is You' from Parker's 'Now's the Time' album. From here Jones' career really took off and engagements followed with Benny Goodman and Arty Shaw.

From the late '50s until the mid '70s he was the staff pianist at CBS studios which is how he came to performing with Marilyn Monroe; in his capacity with CBS he would often appear on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' backing artists such as Frank Sinatra. Jones continued to perform into his eighties and played at the 2006 Monterey Jazz Festival with the Oscar Peterson Trio. He died in May 2010 aged 91.

Hank Jones

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