Pop Music

The Motown drummer was 74.

Jones, the last surviving drummer in the Motown session band known as the Funk Brothers, was stricken in mid-February but had been showing signs of improvement, said his sister-in-law Leslie Coleman. He relapsed last Tuesday, and died at Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center in Dearborn, she told Reuters.

He was a key component of the "psychedelic soul" foray by the Temptations, including "Cloud Nine" and "I Can't Get Next to You," and brought a party feel to their earlier hit "Ain't Too Proud To Beg."

But Jones also applied a sensitive touch to such ballads as "The Tracks of My Tears," by The Miracles, and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," by Jimmy Ruffin.

Jones came to Motown in 1964 after touring with Gaye, and recorded for Motown's enfant terrible on "Ain't That Peculiar," "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."

"Uriel's drum sound was the most open and laid-back, and he was the funkiest of the three guys we had," said Motown arranger Paul Riser. "He had a mixed feel and did a lot of different things well."

Finally, with the excellent documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown, the Funk Brothers got some recognition, but a ridiculously large number of people still don't realize that all the Motown hits were played by the same small revolving cast of backing musicians. If there was one time and place I could transport myself to, that would be it.

I interviewed three of the Funk Brothers - Jones, Gary Willis and Bob Babbit - when they came to Providence as part of SoundSession in 2006, and they were all nice, but Jones told me I could call him anytime about anything. And Willis said, "I hate to say it, but another one of us would have to drop aside for us to [consider retiring]."

Dammit.

"Ain't Too Proud to Beg," The Temptations (the vocals are live, but the track is the record)

 Tags  Song of the Day Uriel Jones

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