"Relocating to New York, he (STONE) played at the Cotton Club and worked at Apollo Theater as a composer, arranger and joke writer. He moved to Atlantic Records in the late Forties, where he worked with such key artists as Ray Charles, Ruth Brown and Big Joe Turner. Back in that time, a hit record required a compelling, danceable rhythm, and Stone had a knack for coming up with them As Atlantic’s Ahmet Ertegun noted, “His work helped R&B take the first step into rock and roll.” Producer Jerry Wexler had this to say about Stone in his autobiography: “Jesse’s musical mind had as much to do with anyone’s with the transformation of traditional blues to pop blues – or rhythm & blues, or cat music, or rock ‘n’ roll, or whatever the hell you want to call it. Jesse was a master, and an integral part of the sound we were developing [at Atlantic].”

BN.