Born Joan Elizabeth Shaw in Newport News, Virginia, same home town as Ella Fitzgerald. "I loved Sarah Vaughan so much and adored Lena Horne's elegance, I put them together as ‘Salena.’ It looked good. And I kept Joan in ‘Jones.’” And that's how Salena Jones was born."
Jones began singing in church, school and began club work at the age of fifteen. After winning a talent contest in New York's Apollo Theater, singing "September Song". She began making demonstration records for Peggy Lee and Lena Horne, acquired her own contract. Her first disc was 1949's "He Knows How to Hucklebuck", with the Paul Williams Orchestra—and she toured and sang throughout the 1950s with Louis Armstrong, Arthur Prysock, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Big Maybelle—sharing bills with fellow Newport News natives the The Five Keys as well as LaVern Baker, before touring in Spain (1965) and Britain (1966), where she appeared for an extended season at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. Since then she has appeared at most leading concert halls and clubs in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, and appeared regularly on radio and TV, with her own series in the United Kingdom. Since visiting Japan for the first time (1978) she appeared there annually, memorably in the Unesco Save The Children Telethon (1988),[2] and on a concert tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1992). In 1964, Down Beat jazz critic Leonard Feather chose Salena Jones as one of the female vocalists of the year, alongside Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson.
Salena has also appeared throughout Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Turkey, Austria and Bulgaria. She has also made numerous television and radio broadcasts in Britain, and throughout Europe, often supported by the BBC Big Band. Also performed in Australia, Africa, South America, China, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. Since her first visit to Japan in 1978 she has returned at least annually, appearing in concert halls, on television, radio and regularly at the Blue Note Jazz Clubs in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.
In her career to date Salena has recorded over forty albums, covering nearly five hundred songs, and sold over 500,000 albums worldwide and her album entitled "My Love" recorded in Tokyo won her an award in Japan for outstanding sales.[5] Salena's musical biography includes many distinguished musicians, band leaders and other artists with whom she has performed or recorded. These include such performers as King Curtis, Herman Foster, Arthur Prysock, Tom Jones, The Coasters, Count Basie Orchestra, Adelaide Hall, Art Farmer, Brook Benton, Barney Kessel, Art Themen, Sarah Vaughan, Hank Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Dudley Moore. . . . and many more.
In Rio de Janeiro not long before Antonio Carlos Jobim's death she recorded Salena Sings Jobim With The Jobims (1994) (licensed from Japanese Victor by Vine Gate Music UK), Jobim's hits sung in English, with Paulo Jobim on vocals, flute and guitar, grandson Daniel Cannetti Jobim on piano and the composer himself on two duets, Kenny Burrell on one track: 14 Jobim songs plus Michael Franks's tributes "Antonio's Song (The Rain- bow)" and "Abandoned Garden", and including two duos with Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim himself. A beautiful recording and one of her best. In the 1990s Salena made a sequence of six albums all consisting of standards and, incidentally, completed in six weeks, including mixing. Some of these albums, including Dream with Salena, Journey with Salena, Broadway and Hollywood are themed with songs appropriate to the titles.
Early 2000 saw Salena starring at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, backed by the Hank Jones Quartet including such current luminaries as Russell Malone, Lewis Nash, and also featuring trumpeter Roy Hargrove, singer Dianne Reeves and Freddie Cole. January 2001 saw Salena return to Israel for eight sell-out shows, and she took her trio to Japan in May for two weeks appearing for Cartier, the exclusive jewellers, at their prestigious trade fairs throughout the country. In May 2006, Salena was thrilled to sing again in China opening the Shanghai International Jazz Festival (opened in 2005 by Diana Krall). Salena opened with Lee Ritenour, and Tower of Power.
She is now based in the United Kingdom.
A Song for You
Salena Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A beautiful theme of every
Dream I ever knew.
Down deep in my heart I hear it play.
I feel it start, then melt away.
I hear music when I touch your hand,
A beautiful melody
Down deep in my heart, I hear it say,
Is this the day?
I alone have heard this lovely strain,
I alone have heard this glad refrain,
Must it be forever inside of me,
Why can't I let it go,
Why can't I let you know,
Why can't I let you know the song
My heart would sing?
That beautiful rhapsody
Of love and youth and spring,
The music is sweet,
The words are true
The song is you.
The lyrics of Salena Jones's "A Song For You" evoke a sense of awe and deep love. The opening lines "I hear music when I look at you, a beautiful theme of every dream I ever knew" portrays how the singer sees beauty personified in their lover. The music they hear when touching or looking at their lover is so mesmerizing that it melts away. The song is full of hope and curiosity, as the singer wants to know if this is the day that they both accept the love they share.
The middle verse "I alone have heard this lovely strain, I alone have heard this glad refrain, Must it be forever inside of me, Why can't I let it go, Why can't I let you know" suggests the hesitance of the singer to reveal their love. The song creates a sense of melancholy and pain as the singer wants to share their love but fears the response. The final lines of the song brings closure and encapsulates the feeling of how the lover is the embodiment of the singer's love. The song represents a rhapsody of love and youth that resonates deep within the singer.
Line by Line Meaning
I hear music when I look at you,
I feel a sense of harmony within myself when I gaze upon your presence,
A beautiful theme of every Dream I ever knew.
A captivating and pleasant tune that echoes in my dreams of you.
Down deep in my heart I hear it play.
I feel this tune resonates within the depths of my soul.
I feel it start, then melt away.
The melody slowly fades into the background of my thoughts.
I hear music when I touch your hand,
Soothing harmonies come to me when our hands meet.
A beautiful melody From some enchanted land.
A melodious tune that seems to evoke a magical realm.
Down deep in my heart, I hear it say, Is this the day?
I sense this music asks me, is this the moment? The day for us?
I alone have heard this lovely strain,
This amazing composition is something only I get to experience.
I alone have heard this glad refrain,
This cheerful verse is something that I alone am familiar with.
Must it be forever inside of me,
Will this inner symphony always be a hidden part of me?
Why can't I let it go,
Why is it so hard to release these melodies?
Why can't I let you know,
Why can't I share this enchanting tune with you?
Why can't I let you know the song My heart would sing?
Why can't I show you the amazing melody that resides in my heart?
That beautiful rhapsody Of love and youth and spring,
This stunning musical masterpiece is about love, youth, and the beauty of spring.
The music is sweet, The words are true The song is you.
This composition is special, it describes you in the purest melody and the most genuine way.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: JEROME KERN, OSCAR II HAMMERSTEIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
田中和真
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