Salena Jones: the jazz singer who escaped racism in the USA
Exploring the life and music of Joan Shaw/Salena Jones, who fled racist attitudes in the USA during the 1960s, to become one of Europe's greatest vocalists.
(Credits: Far Out / Press / Columbia Records)
Music » Features
Tue 4 February 2025 1:00, UK
One of life’s greatest joys is music discovery: uncovering an artist, album, or song that might change your life forever. Earlier this year, the universe smiled upon me and handed me one such discovery. Taking shelter from the bitterly cold wind of Vienna in the winter, I ducked into a small record store filled with tobacco smoke and piled floor-to-ceiling with stacks of old-school soul vinyl. Sifting through the stacks, a colourful, tattered record sleeve jumped out at me, and the name splashed across the cover was Salena Jones
Clutching her self-titled 1971 album, the owner of Record Shack informed me that the record had only ever been pressed in the UK and Poland. How did a Virginia-born vocalist end up having her albums released in Soviet-era Poland? That question proved too great to pass up on the opportunity to dig a little deeper. Handing over payment for the LP and heading back out into the striking cold of Austria’s capital, I vowed to discover more about this mysterious vocalist, a desire which only increased upon hearing the album itself.
As it turns out, Salena Jones had been born Joan Shaw during the late 1930s. Coming from a family of musicians and entertainers, the young Shaw began singing in churches during her childhood and moved on to performing in local clubs by her preteens. Coming of age during the golden age of American jazz, Shaw was infatuated with the innovative, revolutionary sounds of the genre. Before too long, the teenager was lending her distinctive vocals to various jazz records, the first being ‘He Knows How to Hucklebuck’, released when the singer was only 11 years old.
Still only a teenager, the vocalist was prolific throughout the 1950s, touring around the United States and performing with a wide range of different big band leaders and future jazz stars. During the latter part of the decade, she shared bills with such colossal stars as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Cab Calloway. In case it wasn’t obvious, Joan Shaw was on her way to becoming one of America’s most renowned jazz singers. That was until the emergence of rock and roll threw a spanner in the works.
As rebellious and revolutionary as jazz was, rock and roll blew everything else out of the water. All of a sudden, the pop charts were dominated by this new generation of songwriters and performers, and Shaw was largely left in the dust. Although a move towards an R&B sound did help to keep her sound fresh and interesting, mainstream success never came knocking for the Virginia-born vocalist.
Outside of the music industry, the United States was an increasingly difficult place for Black women to exist during the 1950s and 1960s. Racist attitudes, discrimination, and violent prejudice were rife throughout the nation, and there was little escape. The civil rights movement was making vital strides forward, but the change certainly did not occur overnight; Black Americans were forced to fight tooth and nail for equality and the right to exist in the States.
For Shaw, the ferocity of the racism she faced became increasingly difficult to handle. So, the vocalist rebranded herself as Salena Jones and escaped over the Atlantic to Europe. Rather than being ignored – or worse, beaten and threatened for the colour of her skin – audiences across Europe were immediately receptive to Jones’ performance’s captivating vocals and emotional weight.
Particularly in the United Kingdom, the singer became a regular feature on television and radio, as well as in extensive live performances alongside the likes of Tom Jones, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and her husband, Keith Mansfield.
From Europe, Jones went on to tour the likes of South America, Asia, and Africa, with Japan being a particular favourite of the performers’. America’s loss was the rest of the world’s gain, and Jones’ extensive discography has been beloved by countless jazz fans for decades now.
In fact, her music was so universally loved that she managed to overcome the Iron Curtain at the height of Cold War tensions, with the Polish state-owned record label Polskie Nagrania Muza pressing and distributing copies of that 1971 album I stumbled upon in a Vienna record store.
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