The Ivy League school, which is often ranked as the nation's best, announced the five honorary degree recipients Tuesday morning shortly before the commencement ceremony in front of Nassau Hall.
Jones' career has spanned from playing trumpet with Dizzy Gillespie as a teenager to producing Michael Jackson's biggest pop hits.
The others are political theorist George Kateb, molecular geneticist Mary-Claire King, writer Haruki Murakami and John Waterbury, the president of the American University of Beruit.
The university was awarding degrees to 1,125 undergraduates and 743 graduate students.
