<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We last visited drummer Kenney Jones in the fall of 2018 (FTV:\u00a0 Kenney Jones 9-12-18) when <\/span>Classic Rock Magazine<\/span><\/i> talked with him about his book <\/span>Let The Good Times Roll – My Life in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who <\/span><\/i>(Kenney Jones, 2018 – St.Martin\u2019s Press).\u00a0 It had just come out\u00a0 that month so I made a mental note to find a copy of his autobiography and filed the idea away – until early 2020.\u00a0 With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing and the governor rightly keeping things shut down to curb the spread of the deadly virus, new reading material was hard to come by.\u00a0 Looking for one more item to assure free shipping on a parcel, my wife asked if I needed anything and out of the blue, my brain replied, \u201cSure.\u00a0 Find me the Kenney Jones book.\u201d\u00a0 As I have found with other musicians promoting new works, the interviews given when they release a book or record only scratch the surface.\u00a0 A mere twenty months after hearing about it, <\/span>Let The Good Times Roll <\/span><\/i>arrived.\u00a0 Reading books about musicians (and yet another one about a drummer) seems to be one of my hard to kick habits.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jones was born in 1948 in London, the only child of Violet and Samuel Jones.\u00a0 Around his Havering Street neighborhood in the East End, everyone knew him as Kenny Ward as they lived with his mother\u2019s parents.\u00a0 His grandfather told him that during the Blitz, a bomb fell nearby but they didn\u2019t hear any air-raid sirens before the explosion shattered every window in their house.\u00a0 The bedroom window blew in and the Wards found themselves sitting bolt upright in bed with the frame hanging around their necks.\u00a0 It was a close miss, but the bombed out buildings in the East End were the playgrounds of Kenny\u2019s youth.\u00a0 In one instance, they were horsing around in a bombed out Victorian house when the floor gave way, sending Jones and his buddies sliding into the basement.\u00a0 When their eyes adjusted to the dark they found, to their horror, the skeletons of the former homeowners whose bodies had lain undiscovered until well after the war.\u00a0 Rumor had it\u00a0 they had died when a boating holiday ended badly, so no one had searched for them in the wreckage of their bombed out home.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kenny\u2019s father learned to drive trucks in the army and after the war, worked as a lorry driver for a company in Canning Town.\u00a0 As happened with many English families during the lean post war years, the household was mysteriously supplied with Argentinian beef (one of his dad\u2019s frequent deliveries) when Samuel would drop home for tea time on his route.\u00a0 Kenny\u2019s uncle worked for a tea shipping firm, so they were never lacking in that English staple either.\u00a0 In the rough East End, bartering and nicking things was a routine way of life.\u00a0 As Jones tells it, \u201cEveryone around me was a rogue.\u00a0 Dad\u2019s driving mate, for instance, was father to Roy James, who went on to become one of the Great Train Robbers.\u00a0 My cousin Billy Boy worked with the Krays (known East End gangsters) and was a bit of a villain.\u00a0 It would never have occurred to Mum and Dad to not bring me along when they went to Wormwood Scrubs to visit him when he was in the nick (prison).\u00a0 We lived in a close-knit community, where family mattered.\u00a0 Values were different from those of today.\u00a0 When Billy Boy broke out of prison to get married, we all went to the wedding.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Post war living in the East End was character building for young Kenny:\u00a0 \u201cThe people there supported each other, looked out for each other, and occasionally knew a little more about each other than they might have liked.\u00a0 We all had outside toilets.\u00a0 The cold in winter made it a tortuous experience.\u00a0 Your bum would stick to the seat.\u00a0 Man, that was painful. [When we finally got indoor plumbing] I didn\u2019t for a second miss that outside loo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0School was an up and down experience for Jones.\u00a0 Later in life, he realized that he was dyslexic which helped explain many of his struggles.\u00a0 One of his first math teachers got Kenny excited about learning when both realized he had a head for numbers.\u00a0 Having spent a fair amount of time in the corner wearing a dunce cap (yes, that was part of English schooling in the 1950s), he found that he wasn\u2019t dumb.\u00a0 The feeling lasted only until his transfer to another school took him away from his mathematical mentor.\u00a0 The rest of his academic career was highlighted by a lot of truancy.\u00a0 Kenny would show up for roll call, bolt out the door and make his way to Soho where he absorbed the street culture in the area of London that would later become a big part of his life.\u00a0 After being introduced to skiffle music and the drums, his schooling ended permanently at fourteen.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He acquired his first true drum kit by nicking a ten spot from his mother\u2019s purse.\u00a0 He then had to convince his parents to sign the HP (Hired Purchase) papers when the kit was delivered to their living room.\u00a0 Kenny was given a brief introduction to the kit by the delivery man (\u201cThis is how you hold the brushes.\u00a0 This is how to play them.\u00a0 Now you try it\u201d).\u00a0 When he nailed this first lesson, a big smile spread across Kenny\u2019s face.\u00a0 His parents rightly thought that perhaps the joy he expressed playing the drums would keep him busy and out of trouble.\u00a0 They signed the HP papers.\u00a0 Jones looks back now and says, \u201cMany of my friends ended up in gangs and some landed in jail.\u00a0 Playing music took me off that path, otherwise I would have been in the nick or dead.\u00a0 Music literally saved my life.\u201d\u00a0 The neighbors complained about the racket until he moved the kit to the basement.\u00a0 When he became famous, the neighbors who complained about the noise proudly pointed to the house where Kenny Jones grew up.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Scanning the previous article, it came to me that the extra \u2018e\u2019 in Kenney hadn\u2019t come up in the <\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i> interview:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d just become a member of the Performing Rights Society (PRS), which looks after the interests of musicians and songwriters.\u00a0 It turned out there were about five Ken Joneses, a few Kenneth Joneses, and a number of Kenny Joneses.\u00a0 I contacted the PRS and suggested adding an \u2018e\u2019 in my name to make the difference.\u00a0 It stuck.\u201d\u00a0 From then on, he was Kenney Jones.\u00a0 Hooking up with a few guitarists who were as green to music as he was, he practiced a lot, played a few places, and went out to see a lot of other bands perform.\u00a0 He went to see a drummer he had heard about play with a jazz band at a pub called the British Prince.\u00a0 It would prove to be a pivotal moment for Jones.\u00a0 The drummer, Roy, stopped to talk to Kenney on this first trip to the British Prince – Roy wanted to know why this kid was staring at him.\u00a0 Once he knew that Jones was a beginning drummer, they had a nice discussion that ended with Roy asking him not to stare so much.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On his next trip to the club, Roy did him one better when he announced that, \u201cWe have a guest drummer coming up on stage.\u201d\u00a0 When Kenney turned around to see who it was, he was surprised to find out he was the \u2018guest drummer.\u201d\u00a0 Jones recalled, \u201cI sat behind his huge kit, scared to death. I started to play.\u00a0 Snap!\u00a0 The world comes alive again, and I am in heaven.\u00a0 I am the driver who has to make the song fly.\u00a0 And utterly unbelieveably, the band start following me.\u00a0 Amazing.\u00a0 I came off the stage shaking.\u201d\u00a0 When the barman asked if he was in a band (Kenny said he wasn\u2019t, yet, but he wanted to form one), Stan Lane told him, \u201cMy brother is a guitarist,\u00a0 Well, he\u2019s learning, like you.\u00a0 Just now he can\u2019t play much, but shall I bring him down next week to say hello?\u201d\u00a0 Once he met Stan\u2019s brother, Ronnie, the first two pieces of The Small Faces were now forming a band together, though it would take some time before they would be called The Small Faces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Around 1965, Jones happened to be in a local music shop standing next to Mick Jagger (Mick was there trying out maracas).\u00a0 He noticed a used drum kit in the corner.\u00a0 After learning it had belonged to The Shadows\u2019 drummer Brian Bennett, Kenney decided right then and there that he had to have it.\u00a0 Not unusual because, like guitar players, some drummers are always looking to frequently upgrade their gear.\u00a0 I found this purchase interesting because the set he replaced was a \u2018silver glitter Ludwig kit\u2019 (which appears in a photo in the center spread).\u00a0 Apparently Kenney Jones was playing exactly the same make and model Ludwig drum set that I would start learning to play in the spring of 1966.\u00a0 One of his other music store connections was a clerk named Steve who would eventually come out and sit in with the band at a gig.\u00a0 He got a little over exuberant.\u00a0 Steve had previous stage experience having played The Artful Dodger on stage, spent some time in acting school, and was also a musician.\u00a0 His over the top performance that night cost the band a regular gig which in turn caused two of the band\u2019s members to quit.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter to Ronnie and Kenney because they knew immediately that this new guy, Steve Marriott, was the key to them forming a better band.\u00a0 With a rehearsal space secured and a shared apartment to act as a band clubhouse (even though Jones remained with his family on Havering Street for a while longer), they began building a life in the music business.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was a friend of Marriott\u2019s named Annabelle who looked at them lounging around her pad one day and announced, \u201cYou all have little faces, you\u2019re all small, you should be the Small Faces!\u201d\u00a0 Jones now says, \u201cWe looked at each other, our eyes lit up, then we burst out laughing.\u00a0 What a ridiculous name.\u00a0 Give me a break, love.\u00a0 Only a right bunch of Herberts would call themselves the Small Faces.\u201d\u00a0 He continues, \u201cWe were that right bunch of Herberts.\u00a0 Having mercilessly taken the mickey out of calling ourselves \u2018Small Faces\u2019 for a few weeks, the name then stuck.\u00a0 We ended up loving it.\u201d\u00a0 The band ended when Marriott departed to join Peter Frampton in a new band called Humble Pie (covered in detail in FTV:\u00a0 Jerry Shirley 1-16-19), eventually to be replaced by Ron Wood and Rod Stewart.\u00a0 Wood and Stewart were not at all \u2018small\u2019 which induced the band to simply become The Faces.\u00a0 A hard rocking, hard partying band, The Faces toured with a stage side bar and bartender (author\u2019s note:\u00a0 the bartender was one Royden Walter Magee, known as Chuch.\u00a0 Magee would eventually follow Ronnie Woods when he joined the Rolling Stones.\u00a0 When he suddenly died in Toronto while the Stones were preparing for a tour (2002), most of his snowmobiling and four-wheeling buddies in Marquette (including my brother) didn\u2019t even know he worked for the Stones.\u00a0 Chuch had married a U.P. girl and fit right in). The Faces were one of the best concert draws around, but it wasn\u2019t to last.\u00a0 When Rod Stewart began a simultaneous solo career, The Faces gained new followers, but the band\u2019s days were numbered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Early in The Small Faces period, Jones was dating the daughter of a well known bandleader\u00a0 named Tony Osborne.\u00a0 It was Osborne who taught Kenney how to read charts that mapped out what a drummer would play during session work.\u00a0 Because he had never learned to read music, Jones was fortunate to have a knowledgeable studio pro invite him to be part of a recording session and then tutor him on how to fit in.\u00a0 Kenney was a bit flummoxed when he found himself sitting in a studio with an entire orchestra ready to accompany two of the world\u2019s best artists, guitarist Big Jim Sullivan and bassist Herbie Flowers.\u00a0 The run through with each section went okay.\u00a0 When it was time to put it all together, Tony raised his baton and Kenney began to get nervous:\u00a0 \u201cThe sound check was one thing, this is totally different.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to concentrate on the marks on my sheets, and Tony\u2019s baton.\u00a0 Sheet, Tony, Sheet, Tony.\u00a0 Nothing else.\u00a0 He counts us in and I\u2019m following on the page.\u00a0 We\u2019re at the section with the first accents, when everyone is meant to come together on my beat.\u00a0 Here it comes.\u00a0 I can\u2019t believe it,\u00a0 We did it.\u00a0 Together.\u00a0 In time.\u00a0 Everyone!\u00a0 I look up, startled, shocked.\u00a0 And drop my sticks.\u00a0 Tony calls everyone to a halt, \u2018Kenney, what happened?\u2019\u00a0 [Kenney explained] I was looking at the sheet, played the accents, and at that same moment, in came the brass, everyone.\u00a0 Ba, ba, ba, ba, bam!\u00a0 Incredible,\u00a0 All from dots and squiggles on a little bit of paper,\u00a0 I knew I was going to play them, but not everyone else,\u00a0 Frightened the life out of me.\u201d\u00a0 The room erupted in laughter and the session went on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Big Jim and Herbie were so pleased that they requested Jones for all their sessions.\u00a0 They raved about him and as a result, Kenney Jones became a first call session drummer.\u00a0 The experience he got playing many varieties of music improved his skills immensely.\u00a0 Ian McLagan was the only other member of The Small Faces to dabble in studio work, but he didn\u2019t find the early morning calls to his liking.\u00a0 Ian did become a sought after sideman for many famous musician\u2019s tours, but Kenney was the only one drawing a regular paycheck from session work.\u00a0 It was during this period that he got to know Pete Townshend when The Who\u2019s guitarist employed him to make demos of the songs he was writing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Keith Moon died, the list for someone to drum with The Who was a short one with but one name:\u00a0 Kenney Jones.\u00a0 Jones had been putting together what he called \u2018a trans-Atlantic band\u2019 with some notable studio musicians from both sides of the pond.\u00a0 Lazy Racer was on the verge of signing a record deal when Townshend pleaded with Kenney to join The Who.\u00a0 \u201cYou have got to join,\u201d Peter said, \u201cYou are one of us.\u201d\u00a0 Lazy Racer never left the gate.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nobody could replace Keith Moon, so Jones made a conscious decision when he joined the band.\u00a0 He would play The Who\u2019s songs without any radical changes in their arrangements, but he would play like Kenney Jones and not Keith Moon.\u00a0 Throughout his association with the band, there was a lot of \u2018he is not Keith Moon\u2019 babble in the music trades, but he largely ignored the bad press.\u00a0 He only had to satisfy two camps:\u00a0 his own mind and The Who\u2019s remaining members.\u00a0 Townshend and John Entwhistle were fine with Jones throughout his time with the band.\u00a0 Singer Roger Daltry, however, complained long and loud that he didn\u2019t like Jones.\u00a0 By February of 1988, he had played his last concert with The Who.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When The Faces broke up, Rod Stewart asked him to join his solo band as a 50-50 partner, not just a hired sideman.\u00a0 On the verge of relocating to L.A., he had second thoughts:\u00a0 perhaps people would think he and Rod killed The Faces so they could make more money together.\u00a0 Rod understood and it was Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge) who took the drum stool with Rod instead.\u00a0 Appice played with Stewart a long time and provided him with one of his biggest hits, <\/span>Do You Think I\u2019m <\/span><\/i>Sexy<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>\u00a0Kenney Jones has no regrets.\u00a0 He has survived cancer, car crashes, divorce,\u00a0 the break up of bands, and the never ending quest to recover royalties from his days with The Small Faces, but he is still alive and well.\u00a0 He still engages in what he calls his favorite hobbies – riding horses and playing the drums.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 KJ rehearses ‘Sister Disco’ with The Who in 1979