Isham Jones is remembered as leader of a sweet dance band and as composer of attractive melodies, some of which endured as jazz standards. In 2001, Swing Time released
Isham Jones Plays His Own Compositions, a collection which focuses equally upon both aspects of his legacy. Not surprisingly in light of the fact that a compendium of every tune
Jones ever wrote and recorded would probably not have fit onto one compact disc, what Swing Time provides are 23 recordings which seem to have usually been made around the date of each song's publication. The earliest example here is "All Wrong," recorded in May of 1923. This is followed by the two best-known titles, "It Had to Be You" and "I'll See You in My Dreams," both from 1924. Most of the recordings on this collection date from the early '30s, and are typical of sweet dance band records of that vintage. Jazz musicians who strengthened the sound of the ensemble were cornetist
Louis Panico (only present on the first three tracks); pianist
Roy Bargy, and trombonist
Jack Jenney, who clambered aboard in 1932. The chronology presented here advances no further than 1934, with the sobering "It's Funny to Everyone But Me." Arrangements are largely credited to
Gordon Jenkins, or to flügelhorn handler Joe Bishop.
Jones' main lyricists were Charles Newman and
Gus Kahn. Singers who articulate the verses on this collection have been identified as Joe Martin,
Frank Sylvano, Frank Hazzard, and
Charles French. A fifth source of epiglottal emissions was violinist
Eddie Stone (nee Edward Marblestone), who also sang with
Freddy Martin's orchestra. Like most any
Isham Jones collection, this is a constitutional dose of neatly arranged and heavily sweetened dance music from the '20s and the lean years of the Great Depression. Note that three of
Jones' best known compositions are not included here: "On the Alamo" (1922), "The One I Love Belongs to Someone Else" (1924), and "There is No Greater Love" (1936).