 Jones was first hired by Motown as a fill-in for principal drummer Benny Benjamin; along with Richard "Pistol" Allen, he moved up the line as recordings increased and Benjamin's health deteriorated.Jones had a hard-hitting, funky sound, best heard on the tracks for the hits "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" - both versions, by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell in 1967 and the 1970 remake by Diana Ross, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Ain't That Peculiar" by Marvin Gaye, "Cloud Nine" (in which he was augmented by Spider Webb) and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" by the Temptations, "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" by Jimmy Ruffin, Jr. Walker's "Home Cookin'," "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, "For Once in My Life" by Stevie Wonder, and many more.His influences included jazz drummer Art Blakey.