Salena Jones moved
to New York from her home town of Newport News, Virginia (which
she shares with the late Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey) and won
a talent competition at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, singing "September
Song". She turned professional and was immediately booked to
sing in the famous Village Vanguard Club in Greenwich Village.
Wanting to see the world and expand her horizons and also concerned
at the social unrest in her home country, Salena left America
and arrived in London in 1966 after a short stint in Madrid. One
of her early London dates was at Ronnie Scott's where her initial
booking was extended to seven consecutive weeks!
Since her first visit to Japan in 1978 Salena has built up a
huge and loyal following in the land of the rising sun where she
returns at least annually, appearing in concert halls, on television,
radio and regularly at the three Blue Note Jazz Clubs. Signed
to JVC in Japan Salena has recorded over 20 albums for them and
is extremely popular in the Far East where she is a household
name. To date Salena has recorded over 35 albums.
Salena's musical biography includes many distinguished musicians
and band leaders with whom she has performed or recorded - Cab
Calloway, King Curtis, Louis Armstrong, Buck Pizzarelli, Count
Basie Orchestra, John Lee Hooker, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan,
Maynard Ferguson, Art Farmer, Dudley Moore, Richie Cole, Guy Barker,
Brook Benton and many more.
In 1994 Salena made her first appearance at "Pizza on the
Park" in London. Other appearances included opening the prestigious
Festival at Queens in Belfast and starring at the Eindhoven Jazz
Festival in Holland. 1995 saw Salena appearing in Thailand, France,
USA and performing 10 concerts with the Concord Fujitsu jazz tour
where as the sole vocalist, she was supported by such musicians
as Ray Brown, Benny Green and Scott Hamilton.
In early 1996, HMV, celebrating their 75th corporate anniversary,
released the album "It Amazes Me" commissioned for the
benefit of the Save the Children fund. This album was Salena's
first release outside the Far East for 18 years.
We are honoured to have such a prolific artist record for us
and we are proud to present "Salena Jones on Broadway"
an album of love songs from Broadway shows.