Key Songs In The Life Of… Walter Jones

MBW’s Key Songs In The Life Of… is a series in which we ask influential music industry figures about the tracks that have – so far – defined their journey and their existence. Picking the platters that matter to them this time round is one of the most respected A&R execs in publishing, SMP’s Walter Jones. The Key Songs In The Life Of… series is supported by Sony Music Publishing.

It doesn’t take long for Sony Music Publishing’s EVP, Head of A&R, Walter Jones to own up. It doesn’t even take any questioning. Unless ‘Really?!’ counts as questioning.

Reflecting on the normally tortuous selection process behind his seven Key Songs he, initially, says: “You know what, it wasn’t difficult at all.”

Then, after just one word of incredulity on MBW’s part, he continues: “I’m not saying it didn’t take some thought… in fact the really challenging part was… OK, I’m lying, it was difficult! [laughs].

Jones is currently enjoying his second spell at Sony. First time round, from 2009 to 2016, the company was called Sony ATV. He left there for a five-year stint as Co-Head of A&R at Universal Music Publishing Group, until SMP CEO Jon Platt tempted him back in 2022.

Across that period Jones has signed and worked with artists including H.E.R., Lil Baby, Quay Global, Chi Chi, Lil Yachty, City Girls, Alessia Cara, G-Eazy, A$AP Rocky, Pusha T and many more.

H.E.R. appears in his list, via a track that he believes perfectly illustrates the best that can come from the intersection of A&R and artistry.

The other tracks, he explains, are as much a narrative as a playlist. He says: “In the end, I tried to tell my story. For me, it’s about the songs, of course, but it’s also about the albums, and the artists and the time and the place. It’s about memory.

“I remember where I purchased pretty much all my music over the years, what I was doing when I bought it, how I felt when I was opening it – because all those things were so special to me.

“I feel bad for kids today, because they don’t get those feelings, or that true sense of ownership, of something that they wanted so bad and finally get in their hands.”

Track number one certainly proves the point about his selections being about story as much as song. You suspect it will be nowhere to be found in his 2024 Wrapped compilation – but it’s Jones’ first musical memory and so the perfect, if not predictable, place to start…

1) Andrea McArdle, Tomorrow (1982)

I’m in first grade, this is 85/86. My grandmom was an assistant choir teacher for our school. To join the choir you had to sing The Sun’ll Come Out Tomorrow from Annie.

But, because I didn’t want to join the choir, I would intentionally sing flat every time, not just auditioning for the choir, but whatever we sang every time we went to church as well. Same as when she told me to go and learn the piano: ‘No, I wanna DJ instead’ [laughs].

So, I never made the choir – I just had to go with them wherever they went.

Now when I hear it, it’s a great memory. I can see everyone in their blue pants, white shirt and red vest, the choir’s uniform. I’m still glad I managed to avoid joining though!

2) Guy, Groove Me (1988)

I’m nine or 10 years old now, and I just remember this song playing on the radio, with my older cousins and aunts singing and dancing to it.

It’s a very early Teddy Riley composition and production, so it has a real pedigree. Plus it’s a real up-tempo song, and dancing to songs like this was a big thing back then for the family.

Because music was still a family thing at that time, I’d listen to what they listened to when I was this age. I was sort of on the verge of discovering my own things, but mainly it was whatever was on in the home.

Or sometimes in the car, in the backseat, with WBLS or Kiss FM playing. There are a lot of memories. That said, even now, if hear this track, it still sounds really good to me.

3) Big Daddy Kane, Smooth Operator (1989)

I still remember buying this – on cassette! There was a record store right on Fifth Avenue in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, called Records and Tapes.

I walked over there, I think it was $3.99 [for It’s A Big Daddy Thing, Kane’s second album from which Smooth Operator was the lead single] and I had just enough. I had a little radio-cassette player in my room and I just played that tape, both sides, all day – for days.

Big Daddy Kane was from Brooklyn, and he was just the smoothest guy. He was Big Daddy Kane!

This was definitely around the time I was discovering what was happening. Hip-hop was in an interesting place, but my love for hip-hop wasn’t necessarily triggered by anyone in my family, because there was so much RnB and gospel there.

Hip-hop was something that was happening outside of my house, something I was discovering on my own – or with my friends.

Daddy Kane was also a happy balance, he was a rapper but there was a lot of R&B in there. It was a good bridge.

4/5) Wu-Tang Clan, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1992) / Nas, Illmatic (1994)

I remember listening to Wu-Tang Clan, 36 Chambers in the car with a friend of mine. There were so many curse words in the beginning, and in all the skits; I just remember thinking, ‘Wow, I can’t believe Jason’s mom is letting us listen to this!’

That’s how I got a lot of the rap initially, through friends. And Wu-Tang was something different again from Big Daddy Kane. They were different from everyone.

And with Nas, I’ll never forget this day. I was going to a basketball game with my good friend JJ. We both had Walkmans at the time, but on this particular day he’s sharing his earphones with me, because he has Illmatic and I don’t. I knew straight away, I have to get this.

I went to Records and Tapes, got home, pressed play and my God, it was like a movie. It was so descriptive. I could see everything, I could smell it! And I automatically put myself in every scene.

Everything was familiar, in terms of where I was raised. It was a very real thing to us – and that whole record is very special. It still is. It’s a landmark release and I fell in love with it from top to bottom.

And sorry, in both cases, I have to have the whole album, because they are both very complete pieces of work. Like I say, they’re almost movies to me, they hang together.

6) Montel Williams, This Is How We Do It (1995)

So this is 2003/4. I’ve graduated from college and I’m on my journey, driven by my love of music, finding my way as a young adult.

I get an opportunity to go out and road manage and DJ for Montel Jordan. He had this massive hit, This Is How We Do It, which came out maybe 10 or so years before I was with him.

But because it was such a hit, this song gave me the opportunity to travel the world with him. It showed me the power of a song, what a song can mean to people, how far it can take you and how it can have almost a life of its own. I had to play it night after night after night – that was non-negotiable!

He had already been touring for years off the back of this, and here I am, this 21-year-old kid getting to tour the world with him, because of hit records that he had written.

I honestly don’t know when I would have got out of the country for the first time if it hadn’t been for Montel and this song.

I learned so much from his manager at the time – she still is his manager, his wife, Kristin Jordan. They gave me these rules to follow and I did exactly what they asked; I didn’t want to mess up.

I was also a younger guy leading grown men, telling them what we expected and what we needed. It’s so funny now when I look back on it, but I got so much out of it.

I think the biggest thing was people management and communication, how to speak to people in order to get them to do what needs to be done.

And even though I must have played it and heard it over a thousand times, I still love that song!

7) H.E.R., Damage (2021)

I executive-produced the three or four projects that H.E.R. did. This song is on her debut album, Back of My Mind.

I remember when we did this session, I heard this loop playing and I called H.E.R. and another writer, Tiara Thomas, into the studio to listen to it and write to it, because I knew I felt something right away.

Montel had previously told me a cheat code, which was to take a hit and make another hit out of it. Which, is what he did with This Is How We Do It [the track is built around Slick Rick’s Children’s Story].

In this case, we made a cultural hit with Damage by reworking Herp Alpert’s Making Love In The Rain, produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis [1987].

That one sticks with me, because we worked so hard to make it happen. We tried to clear the initial sample, but it got denied. So then we had to go replay it. We even worked to try and get Jimmy and Terry to replay what they had originally done, but that didn’t work out either.

In the end we were able to get a fantastic musician by the name of Jeff Gitty, and he nailed it. He captured the absolute essence of the original song. That was a moment for me.