Elvin Jones

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:33 pm

I just got this email:

Dear friends,

It's with a heavy heart and deep sadness that I inform you all that our beloved friend Elvin Jones passed away today, Tuesday, May 18th at 2:46 p.m. eastern time in New York.? He was 76 years young.? Please take a moment to pause and remember this very special person.?

I do not have any information regarding a funeral service, and respectfully ask that you not call about it.? Rest assured we will post whatever information is appropriate on our website, or Joe Testa (Yamaha) or I will communicate it via e-mail.

In the meantime, please pray that his journey be a safe and peaceful one.? God Bless you, Elvin.

With thanks,
John

John P. DeChristopher
Director of Artist Relations & Event Marketing Worldwide
Avedis Zildjian Company-World Headquarters

Rigsby · Post by **Rigsby** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:37 pm

You know Chris, i had a feeling what this thread would say when i clicked on it. A sad day for music, what a fantastic player he was.

Cellotron · Post by **Cellotron** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:42 pm

He did so much AMAZING music but I'd say my two favorites are "A Love Supreme" with Trane and "Ask the Ages" with Sonny Sharrock. I think I'll crank both of those up tonight. A lot of thanks goes to Elvin's soul for gracing this earth with such amazing (polyrhythmic) vibrations.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:47 pm

Rigsby wrote:You know Chris, i had a feeling what this thread would say when i clicked on it. A sad day for music, what a fantastic player he was.

Yeah, I knew it when I got the email. What a downer. Seriously.

Chris

goldenarmes · Post by **goldenarmes** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:51 pm

man, my day is ruined...elvin jones has had the single biggest impact on music in my life. very sad day indeed.

JASIII · Post by **JASIII** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:53 pm

I know what I'm doing tonight..... The last album I bought featuring Elvin was the Bill Frisell with Elvin Jones and Dave Holland album. Elvin's wonderful rambling drum sound is all over that album. I once heard his drum style as sounding like someone "kicking empty cardboard boxes around in a dark basement". He'll be missed.

goldenarmes · Post by **goldenarmes** » Tue May 18, 2004 2:05 pm

my favorite descrpition for elvin's thing was "tennis shoes in a dryer"

awolski · Post by **awolski** » Tue May 18, 2004 3:16 pm

To me his playing really represented a link or transition between complex polyrhythmic playing and straight-out pulseless free jazz drumming. A lot of the music I really love is greatly indebted to his groundbreaking efforts. And some of that Coltrane stuff...absolutely amazing, he was a tower of rhythmic strength. His musical endeavors will be remembered fondly.

EasyGo · Post by **EasyGo** » Tue May 18, 2004 3:21 pm

Aww dam

Man what a loss. I'm lucky I got to see Elvin live back in the early 90s; that was one of the single most incredible musical events I have ever witnessed. I'd heard some of the significant Coltrane stuff by then, but hearing/watching Elvin in person was a milestone of my musical existence.

So much style, so much power. He'd go off for a measure on one of those signature polyrhythmic tangents, and you'd really wonder how he'd ever get back to the one again. And he'd land triumphantly right on the one, like a slam dunk.

Dam

Looking at Google news, I also found the sad news that Barney Kessel (MR. Guitar) passed on May 8. Fuck.

arneal · Post by **arneal** » Tue May 18, 2004 3:22 pm

Thank you so much, Elvin, so long.
Armond

fallout · Post by **fallout** » Tue May 18, 2004 3:49 pm

Very sad... Elvin was amazing!

-Jay

percussion boy · Post by **percussion boy** » Tue May 18, 2004 7:16 pm

Ouch.

An Elvin story: As a young man, someone -- might have been Michael Shrieve, the original Santana drummer -- approached Elvin after seeing him play a club gig, and said how much he liked Elvin's hi-hat sound. Elvin looked at him for a second, reached in his bag, and gave him the hi-hats.

He sure left a lot behind, in many ways . . .

saultime · Post by **saultime** » Wed May 19, 2004 6:21 am

I'm not even a drummer, but Elvin's stuff blows me away.

What would Coltrane's work sound like without Elvin's playing?

Truly, one of the greatest of all time.

NPR covered it...it's on the morning edition page:

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php ... 04&prgId=3

Rigsby · Post by **Rigsby** » Wed May 19, 2004 6:35 am

There's plenty of Coltrane without Elvin on it, but i have to say i prefer him with. Someone wrote 'pulseless' and i think it's the opposite, his understanding of pulse for me is how he managed to configure all those polyrhythms as understanding the pulse allows you to play around, within and outside of it. If you don't have this understanding, surely you're just counting or winging it (sorry wing, no offense), and he never ever sounded like that to me.

coniferouspine · Post by **coniferouspine** » Wed May 19, 2004 6:45 am

My thing that I loved so much about Elvin Jones was, just about every song he ever played on, he always does this one same little flourish at the end of the piece. There may be one or two without it, but listen to any of the Coltrane, Miles, or Sonny Sharrock stuff, it's always there. Just a little kick/snare/cymbal flourish he always puts at the very very end after everybody else is finished. There were maybe like four or five little variations on it, but listen, the end of every song, you can always tell it's him. It was literally like a signature on a painting, or like a little way of him saying, "There, I'm done. Punctuation Mark." Great player.

Now playing: "Out Of This World" from John Coltrane's "Coltrane" album (Impulse)

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