Uriel Jones

Who was Uriel Jones?

Uriel Jones was an African-American musician. Jones was a recording session drummer for Motown's in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Jones was first hired by Motown as a fill-in for principal drummer Benny Benjamin; along with Richard "Pistol" Allen, he moved up the line as recordings increased and Benjamin's health deteriorated. Jones had a hard-hitting, funky sound, best heard on the tracks for the hits "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" - both versions, by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell in 1967 and the 1970 remake by Diana Ross, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations, Jr. Walker's "Home Cookin'," "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder, and many more. His influences included jazz drummer Art Blakey. For his Motown recordings, Jones performed on a studio set composed of Ludwig, Slingerland, Rogers and Gretsch components. Jones became better known to music fans through his appearance in the feature documentary film, Standing In The Shadows Of Motown.

In 2008, he performed on the Carl Dixon BandTraxs session at Studio A, Dearborn Heights, Detroit, where he and fellow drummer Spider Webb helped complete Dixon's dreams of paying homage to musicians from the city. In addition to Jones, on the session were others including Dennis Coffey, Bob Babbitt, Ray Monette, Robert Jones, Spider Webb, George Katsakis, Gil Bridges, Dennis Sheridan, Larry Fratangelo, John Trudell, David Jennings, Mark Burger, George Benson, Ed Gooch and Rob Pipho. Also ex Motown arranger David Van De Pitte, scored the musical arrangements around the original UK demos he was sent, and led the band in the studio.