Burgher ‘Buddy’ Jones; Jazz Bassist Toured With James, Dorsey

Burgher “Buddy” Jones, 76, jazz bassist who toured with the big bands of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Born in Hope, Ark., Jones met the legendary Charlie Parker in Kansas City as a teenager and was influenced to go into music. He began playing bass in the Navy, then worked with Charlie Ventura and came to Los Angeles in the late 1940s to play with small jazz groups. In 1950 he moved to New York, where he worked with Gene Williams, played with the Lennie Tristano Quintet, recorded with Buddy DeFranco and joined the Jack Sterling morning show on CBS Radio. During the 1950s and 1960s as a CBS musician, Jones also played in bands supporting such singers as Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra. He also worked as a consultant with Lenny Niehaus and Clint Eastwood on the motion picture “Bird,” about the life of Parker. Jones, who also played piano and tuba, was inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame in 1996. On June 9 in Carmel Valley, Calif., of pancreatic cancer.