Happy Birthday John Paul Jones: 2007 Bonnaroo Superjam With Ben Harper & Questlove
By Andy Kahn Jan 3, 2017 • 1:16 pm PST
Today marks the 71st birthday of Led Zeppelin founding member John Paul Jones. Best-known for his bass contributions to the legendary hard rock band, Jones is a skilled performer on a number of other instruments including keyboards, mandolin and guitar. For the renowned bassist, session musician and producer’s birthday today, here’s a look back to a special performance held at Bonnaroo nearly a decade ago.
The 2007 installment of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival featured a Superjam made up of drummer Questlove of The Roots and guitarist Ben Harper of Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals. The one-off power trio was joined at times by Harper’s band mate Michael Ward on bass while Jones played guitar during the course of the set that relied on Led Zeppelin favorites, a Marvin Gaye cover and an encore medley featuring The Roots guitarist Kirk Douglas on Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Them Changes” and part of The Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” and Sly Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher.”
Jones can be seen going head to head with Harper on guitar in a clip of “When The Levee Breaks” and playing bass on “Good Times, Bad Times” and “Dazed And Confused.” There’s also behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage that can be viewed in the videos below:
