Funeral set for Uriel Jones of Funk Bros.

Susan Whitall / The Detroit News

Funeral arrangements for Uriel Jones of Motown's Funk Brothers have been finalized. Jones died late Tuesday afternoon at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, of complications from a heart attack he suffered in early February.

Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. Monday March 30 at Pye Funeral Home, 17600 Plymouth Rd., Detroit. The funeral will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Greater Grace Temple, 23500 W. Seven Mile Rd. in Detroit, with Bishop Charles Ellis III officiating. Family hour is at 10 a.m.

Jones, whose muscular, hard-rocking drum style was an integral part of the Motown sound on classics such as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" and "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations, died at Oakwood Hospital Tuesday afternoon, according to his friend, Motown arranger Paul Riser. Jones was 74.

"I feel blessed to have worked with him," said Bob Babbitt, who played bass with Jones on many Motown hits as part of the Funk Brothers, Motown's core backing band. "As a musician he was incredible." The last gig Jones performed with Babbitt and Eddie Willis, who still tour as the Funk Brothers (Joe Messina retired) was on Dec. 5.

"We had two other gigs lined up, and some recording," Babbitt said.

Motown arranger Paul Riser worked on many sessions with Jones, although it was in recent years that he really got to know him.

"Uriel was one of the warmest human beings you ever want to know," Riser said. His favorite Jones performance was the Diana Ross version of Ashford & Simpson's song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," although he also cited Jones' play on Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," and both the Gladys Knight and Marvin Gaye versions of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" as top-notch.

"Uriel also played on 'My Girl,' and of course I have to mention that he played on my song, 'What Becomes of the Broken-hearted," Riser says.

The Funk Brothers had a private language that sounded like gibberish to outsiders, but was their way of communicating so that the artists and the producers (and bosses) didn't know what they were saying. Jones, and Earl Van Dyke, were particularly adept at this patter.

Jones suffered heart problems, most recently a heart attack in early February when he was in the hospital getting a blood transfusion. While he seemed to be on the mend, he hadn't been able to go home yet.

"He was so energetic about coming out of the hospital, out of rehab, finishing his autobiography and just getting back into the groove with the Funk Brothers," Riser says. "He was disappointed that he missed a date with them, the first one he ever had to miss."

"Uriel was one of the great R&B drummers," said Allan Slutsky, who made the 2002 movie about the Funk Brothers, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" and managed the Funks for a while.

"Of the Funk Brothers drummers, Uriel was the hardest rocking," Slutsky said. "Benny (Benjamin) and Pistol (Allen) were more finesse, jazz players. Uriel was a beast, that's why he and (Motown pianist) Earl Van Dyke were such a pair. He would hit really hard."

Born in Detroit, Jones always credited music with saving him; like many musicians of his generation, including Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops, Jones did a stint at Moore School for Boys, which was for Detroit public school boys with a discipline problem.

But Moore had a strong music program, and it was there that Jones found himself, using the drums as an outlet for his energy.

Jones started out backing Marvin Gaye on the road, and segued into a role as a session drummer at Motown in 1964, the year when the label had exploded on the national pop charts.

It wasn't until 2003 that Jones and his fellow Funk Brothers were recognized officially by the music industry with two Grammy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

A clip from the Funk Brothers film "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" will air on one of this week's "American Idol" Motown week programs, to air tonight and Thursday on WJBK-TV (Channel 2).

Surviving Jones are his wife June Jones and three children, Lynnaire Barnett, Gary Jones and Brooke Gardner; as well as seven grandchildren

You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@detnews.com.