[2][3] Having previously been in a band with Ronnie Lane, Jones was one of the founding members of the English rock group Small Faces.

In 2007, Small Faces were honoured by Westminster Council with a commemorative plaque placed at what was Don Arden's offices in Carnaby Street, the band's "spiritual home".

[4] Since the death of Jimmy Winston in September 2020, Jones and Rick Wills are the sole surviving members of the Small Faces.

In 2004 The Observer listed the Small Faces' 1968 release Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake one of the "top British albums of all time".

The band changed its name to Faces, as the original name was associated with the small stature of its members, and Stewart and Wood did not fit the description.

[6] In November 1978, Jones was invited by guitarist Pete Townshend and manager Bill Curbishley to join The Who, replacing their original drummer Keith Moon, who had died of a drug overdose in September.

[7] He was invited, in part, because the band had been friendly with him from his days with the Small Faces (he and Moon were friends and were together on the last night of Moon's life in 1978, as part of the viewing party put together by Paul McCartney for The Buddy Holly Story), and because he had played with Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle on the Tommy soundtrack.

In 2001, Jones formed a new band; over several months, the line-up solidified to include Rick Wills and Robert Hart.

Jones has been featured on recordings as a guest drummer on many recording sessions, including appearances on albums by Rod Stewart, The Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood, Roger Daltrey, Andy Fairweather-Low,[11] Joan Armatrading, Keith Moon, Marsha Hunt, Mike Batt, Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, David Essex, John Lodge and Wings.