Brownsville Democratic District Leader Anthony T. Jones, besides his considerable talent in the political arena, is also an exceptional singer, who recently put out a well-produced track of the legendary Sam Cooke song, Twistin’ The Night Away.
While the instrumentation is Cooke’s original backing tracks, Jones co-produced the video and it was remixed by Royal Bayyan, formerly of the R&B/Funk band Kool and the Gang and who has recording credits on the recording tracks of numerous artists including Freddie Jackson, Gloria Gaynor and Tupac Shakur to name just a few.
“First of all I was inspired by a gentleman named of Mike Yung who used to sing in the train stations. I’ve known him since I was a kid. He has several million views on Facebook and is one of my inspirations,” said Jones, adding that he’s known Bayyan as well for a long time and who always thought he had a good voice and encouraged him to sing.
Jones, who was born and raised in Brownsville is the great-grandson of an interracial couple from Pennsylvania, who came to Brooklyn and originally settled in Weeksville a historic neighborhood settle by free African-Americans in pre-Civil War America. His great-Grandmother was a French Jew.
Check out the video:
KCP would be remiss to not add that Sam Cooke, whose life was cut tragically short, remains one of America’s great musical talents.
Among the songs he wrote and recorded is, A Change is Gonna Come, which was covered by numerous other musicians. It is a song of optimism that is very current in these times we now live in. Give a listen.
