Tad Jones

Jones was a native and resident of New Orleans, Louisiana. He developed an interest in the music and history of New Orleans at a young age and conducted important oral history interviews with musicians while still in his teens.

He earned a degree in Communications at Loyola University New Orleans.

At Loyola University New Orleans, Jones was the music director of the university's radio station WLDC from 1971 to 1974. Frequently, he merged his broadcasting training with his musical historical expertise to promote New Orleans music in the station's playlist. This, in turn, gained the attention and influenced the programming of numerous record companies and album-oriented rock and jazz broadcast outlets through the US. Jones also used WLDC's recording facilities in pioneering the taped oral history interviews of numerous New Orleans musicians from every period and style of New Orleans music. The William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University now houses many of the interviews.

Jones contributed significantly to fostering and researching American rhythm and blues, early rock and roll and jazz. He was one of the "Fabulous Fo'teen," the founding members of Tipitina's, New Orleans's landmark music club established in 1977 and dedicated to Professor Longhair as a place for Longhair to perform until his death in 1980.{{cite book |last=Broven |first=John |title=Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans |publisher=Pelican Publishing Company |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4556-1952-8}} Jones co-authored the liner notes of Longhair's final original records, "Crawfish Fiesta." He was involved in the founding of New Orleans community radio station WWOZ-FM. He was also involved in the organization of "Piano Night," a celebration of piano originally presented at Tipitina's on the Monday following the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as a benefit for the radio station.

Jones taught a popular and acclaimed course on the history of New Orleans rhythm and blues at University of New Orleans in the late 1980s. He also managed music publishing for The Radiators as General Manager of the band's Fishhead Music. He served as an original program organizer of New Orleans's Satchmo SummerFest, the city's annual conference and celebration of Louis Armstrong's birthday which draws a choice roster of scholars and fans to New Orleans.{{cite news |url= https://www.theadvocate.com/gambit/new_orleans/events/stage_previews_reviews/article_6eed4321-a888-5fb0-960a-fdd3e90c3f4e.html |title=Sizing Up Satchmo SummerFest |work=The Advocate |date=July 29, 2002 |accessdate=November 21, 2019}} Additionally, Jones served as a consultant for multiple documentaries and films. With Jason Berry and Johnathan Foose, Jones co-authored Up from the Cradle of Jazz (2009, {{ISBN|978-0-8203-0853-1}}), a history of post-World War II New Orleans rhythm and blues.{{cite news |last=Morris |first=Chris |url= https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/dr-john-orleans-music-icon-222534331.html |title= Dr. John, New Orleans Music Icon, Dies at 77 |work=Variety |date= June 6, 2019 |accessdate= March 25, 2025}}

At his death, Jones was researching and writing a long-anticipated biography of the early life of Louis Armstrong. The book was said to be near completion when Jones died.

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Jones died unexpectedly on January 1, 2007, after an accidental fall outside his Uptown New Orleans home. He was interred in Metairie Cemetery following a jazz funeral organized by New Orleans musicians.

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Category:1952 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:20th-century American historians

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:American music historians

Category:Loyola University New Orleans alumni

Category:Writers from New Orleans

Category:Historians from Louisiana

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:Historians of jazz

Category:Rock music historians