Ivan “Boogaloo Joe” Jones - Mindbender/My Fire (1968)

Also known as “Boogaloo Joe“, (born 1 November 1940) is a psychedelic jazz guitarist. He made his solo debut as “Joe Jones” on Prestige Records in 1967, but earned the name “Boogaloo Joe” following a 1969 record of that title. The demeaning name was meant to distinguish him from the other people with similar names in the music business, such as R&B singer Joe Jones, jazz drummers “Papa Jo” Jones and Philly Joe Jones, and the Joe Jones of the Fluxus movement. Later, he’d turn to billing himself as Ivan “Boogaloo Joe” Jones.

Jones recorded several albums in a soul-jazz vein for Prestige in the period from 1966 to 1978. In addition to leading his own group for recording purposes, Ivan Jones recorded with Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes, Houston Person, Rusty Bryant, Harold Mabern, Wild Bill Davis and, most notably, Willis Jackson. Rusty Bryant, Charles Earland, and Bernard Purdie are among the sidemen also featured on Boogaloo’s albums.

His sound and style clearly derived from the blues. But it was a solid understanding of rock that Jones brought to his style of jazz. He was influenced most by Tal Farlow and Billy Butler, but gravitated toward the rhythm and blues jazz Butler was popularizing with organist Bill Doggett‘s popular group.

While jazz went through some drastic changes during the dozen years of his recording career, Jones' sound and style stayed remarkably consistent. His twangy tone coupled catchy chordal vamps with astonishing rapid-fire single-note playing. He could handle familiar pop covers (“Light My Fire,” “Have You Never Been Mellow”) and ballads. But he really excelled in the jazz-funk groove and proved himself a first-rate blues player.

In 1993, BGP released Mindbender/My Fire!, which contained two complete albums -- Mindbender and My Fire!, originally released on BGP in 1968-- by funky jazz guitarist Joe "Boogaloo" Jones . 

Enjoy!