Goodbye Elvin
May 19, 2004

I just read the news from BBC news online that Elvin Jones has died. Tears are streaming down my face as I write this. What is there to say about Elvin Jones? I can't even guess at the number of hours I've listened to that man playing drums. The recordings with Coltrane, with Grant Green, etc.. He was so influential in my playing as a guitarist. Even as a pandeiro player now, I frequently think of Elvin when I play. Thank god I had the good forture to get to see him play live ... actually, I think only once, at the Blue Note in NYC. I'll never forget the energy and joy that came from that man on the bandstand. I stood there in awe with my jaw open. Watching all of these jazz legends die off ... it's just too much.

****
From BBC News

Jazz drumming legend Jones dies

Elvin Ray Jones, a renowned jazz drummer and member of John Coltrane's quartet, has died in the US aged 76.

Jones, who also played alongside Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, died of heart failure in a New Jersey hospital on Tuesday.

Jones, named by Life magazine as "the world's greatest rhythmic drummer", joined band leader Charlie Mingus' ranks in New York in the mid-1950s.

He played on some of Coltrane's famed recordings, including A Love Supreme.

Born in Pontiac, Michigan, one of 10 children, Jones had two musician brothers, Hank, a pianist, and Thad, a trumpet and flugelhorn player.

He entered the Detroit jazz scene in the late 1940s and came to New York in 1955, auditioning unsuccessfully for the Benny Goodman band.

He joined Coltrane's quartet in 1960, playing on records such as Live at the Village Vanguard.

He later formed Elvin Jones' Jazz Machine, put out several solo albums and continued to tour.

Jones leaves his wife of 38 years, Keiko, a son and a daughter.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/3727871.stm

Published: 2004/05/19 09:25:23 GMT

© BBC MMIV

Posted by Scott at 10:24 AM