Broadway Jones (performer)

Broadway Jones, born Henry A. Jones, (April 11, 1888 – November 14, 1948) was an African American singer, musical theatre actor, drummer, band leader, comedian, and nightclub owner. As a vocalist he was known for his performances of jazz music and spirituals. He had a career as a singer and comedian in vaudeville and in night clubs. A native of Florida, he began his career as a jazz drummer and singer in Jacksonville where he was active as early as 1912. By 1915 he was working as a band leader in New York City. He became a well known musical figure in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, and operated a jazz nightclub in Harlem in 1923-1924. He was a well known performer in Palm Beach, Florida where he sang regularly from 1915 into the late 1920s; including annual engagements at the Royal Poinciana Hotel. A baritone with a rich large voice, the song "Ol' Man River" from Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern's Show Boat (1927) was originally created with him as the intended vocalist. He was offered the role of Joe in the original cast of the musical but declined the part.

Jones was a performing partner of Eubie Blake during the years of World War I, and again during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The pair performed together in jazz clubs, hotels, theaters and other venues; including performing in numerous musical revues in vaudeville and on tour together. They also performed in the Broadway musical Blackbirds of 1930. Alone, Jones starred in James P. Johnson's short lived Broadway musical Sugar Hill (1931). In the mid 1930s he performed at the Cotton Club and on tour in the Cotton Club revues created by Cab Calloway. From 1938-1940 he was a member of Clarence Tisdale's Tisdale Trio, and afterwords performed in his own group, the Broadway Jones Trio, whose membership also included vocalist Opal Cooper. At the very end of his career he worked in partnership with the jazz pianist Earres Prince. Having never retired, he died while traveling with Prince on tour in 1948 at the age of 60.