Kenney Jones

IAN - W -

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Kenney Jones - A well-known rock drummer with a remarkable career for his work in The Who, Small Faces, Faces, The Law & The Jones Gang.

Biography: http://freespace.virgin.net/kenney.jones/Kenney bio.htm

The Who - Sister Disco: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDE1uEw7xNI

The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again 1982: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-iW52e1fe8&feature=related

Andy: I put this one up mate...shamelessly! :)

Kenny jones trying out - KIS's - Guru drums: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewuvhhL9aB8
 

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Right on. SUPERB drummer with his own style. A real gentleman and under-rated. I liked all his work with Small Faces (great dynamics), especially Tin Soldier ...and of course his solo on the end of Rod Stewarts/Faces "I'm Losing You".
 
He looks like he's have fun on the toms.

It seems he'll always be remembered for being the wrong man for the job with The Who. Zac definitely is a better fit, though there's nothing quite like The Who with Moonie in their prime.

KJ is underrated by some because he became known as much for what he didn't do as much what he did do - playing rock solid, grooving, good sounding and tasteful drum parts for some of the greats of rock.
 
I recall after his '83 Modern Drummer interview, many people chastised the man for having two bass drums but only using one. I kinda' sat there thinking, "they're not getting it...."

Great player, for sure.
 
He looks like he's have fun on the toms.

It seems he'll always be remembered for being the wrong man for the job with The Who. Zac definitely is a better fit, though there's nothing quite like The Who with Moonie in their prime.

KJ is underrated by some because he became known as much for what he didn't do as much what he did do - playing rock solid, grooving, good sounding and tasteful drum parts for some of the greats of rock.

In some ways he was the wrong man for the Who, but I still really like "It's Hard." I thought he fit right in on that album....
 
All The Who albums would have remained in the same WHO trail if the remaining members Townshend, Daltrey and Enwhistle held an audition to find out who could play lyrically just like what Moon did, instead of calling their friend Kenny....may be they wanted to change their course.. I know Daltrey didnt !!.

I still think the song Eminence Front would have been much different if Moonie played, instead of that dead groovy beat., .......well almost all the songs in Face Dances and Its Hard.

Yes, Kenny is a great drummer just like all the other great drummers, who "played for the song!!, ...steady groovy beats with occasional fills.... but quite unfit for The Who, which needed unsteady unpredictable fills through out and occasional groovy beats!.

(Zac goes technical as well ) The who needed a drummer who could look at Petes guitar all the time and play lyrically with no hi hats,no pre written drum music...... and most importantly no stone face either!!. :).
 
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All The Who albums would have remained in the same WHO trail if the remaining members Townshend, Daltrey and Enwhistle held an audition to find out who could play lyrically just like what Moon did, instead of calling their friend Kenny.

I still think the song Eminence Front would have been much different if Moonie played, instead of that dead groovy beat., .......well almost all the songs in Face Dances and Its Hard.

Yes, Kenny is a great drummer just like all the other great drummers but quite unfit for The Who.

Fair comments but I probably shouldn't have mentioned The Who ... I've inadvertently brought into focus the very issue I wanted to dispel ... Kenny being on a hiding to nothing by filling in for Moonie.

Oh well, someone was going to say it if I didn't.

Kenny's playing always brings to mind another dead solid British drummer, Simon Kirke. Nothing flash but always always rock solid, appropriate and generally good sounding.

Take the seamless way he sits in the groove in Itchycoo Park and the fabulous phased (flanged?) fills ... Kenny's playing is all too beautiful :)
 
Kenny is very under rated.

And he gets a lot of undeserved flack from people because he was not Keith Moon. Of course, not, and he knew it, so he didn't try to be. Rather than try to fill the shoes of Moon, he said I'm not him, so I'm just going to be me. And rather than people realizing he was taking the high road, people just love to point fingers and say "but he's no Moon".

And he also gets some unfair blame for Pete's song writing not being as great as he had been previously on the those last two albums. Well, Kenny didn't write the songs; yet people love to blame Kenny for things out of his control. He walked into an impossible situation, and got skinned alive for it.

I used to sit with my walkman and listen to "Who's Last" with Kenny on repeat all through high school.

I particularly dig his rolling triplets on "The Quiet One" from "It's Hard".
 
He walked into an impossible situation, and got skinned alive for it.

In a nutshell.

Big shoes to fill, especially immediately after the fact. It was such a distinctive style that he had to follow I think that he had little choice but to do his own thing. Unfortunately by doing so he cops the flak for "not being Moonie".....however, if he tried to copy every Moon lick I fear he'd have copped even more. A genuine case of 'damned if he did, damned if he didn't.' I think in reality it was just too soon. Zac fits well now given the passage of time, but I very much doubt he would have been so readily accepted if he stepped up to the plate in '79. I think anyone who sat in that chair at that time was on a hiding to nothing. Tough gig......even tougher crowd.

Easy to see why Zepp made it easier on themselves and called it a day.
 
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Either right or wrong for the job in The Who...Who could tell?
Mr. Jones as any other professional drummer accepted the challenge to fill in for Moon. He carried it out in accomplishing the goal, through a complex-sad-missing-loving- Moon atmosphere back then...not easy for any drummer!
 
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I like The Who video but I love the way Kenney performs in The Faces...Excellent! thanks for sharing mate!
 
Kenney Jones vs Keith Moon comparison ....always a silly thing. Kenny was better, way more solid, tasteful, played for the song. Moon can surely be admired for his reckless or random abandon, both on and off the kit, but its well known and written his drumming abilities took a downturn after Who's Next - drugs and booze. They debated booting him. Not sure he would have made it with any other band. I love the Who, and all their 60's 70's stuff, but that band is not made by Moon or his drumming. Had Kenney Jones left the Small Faces to join the Who in 1965 they would have been just as good.
 
but that band is not made by Moon or his drumming.

Nope, it is indeed Mr Pete Townshend who made the Who, but every band members had their role in the matter....

And Kenney Jones is a brilliant drummer, understated and underrated, but a brilliant drummer noneless.
 
Does anyone know the drum setup/make Kenney used for the early 1970s Rod Stewart albums? I just love his sound from that period. I spent some time trying to find out what drum make he used back then, snare, etc. and found nothing. Listening to "Twistin the Night Away" from Rod now and I've always wondered. Thanks.
 
Does anyone know the drum setup/make Kenney used for the early 1970s Rod Stewart albums? I just love his sound from that period. I spent some time trying to find out what drum make he used back then, snare, etc. and found nothing. Listening to "Twistin the Night Away" from Rod now and I've always wondered. Thanks.

I agree. Of course its.....Ludwigs 13-16-18-24 natural maple. Check out this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrOPJXrUWII

Further to this thread. Yes Kenney was a groove drummer in the late 70's Who, but actually he played way more wide open and "moon-like" in all the Small Faces. Listen to Tin Soldier, or Afterglow. I think the late-70's sound influenced the music the Who was making at that time, to be more rock steady. Even by Who Are you, Moons' drumming was tamed down by that period.
 
That's some good live performance video there. Thank you Open.

God, Rod Stewart's voice too back then was awesome. The whole band was actually. What took them so long to get into the Rock Hall of fame?
 
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