Elvin Jones
Although Elvin Jones has been a lot of people’s most influential drummer, he had reached a level among master drummer where they no longer compete to be ‘better’ than anyone else. Its apples and oranges after a certain point with great musicians. Its like having a list of ice cream flavors that you love so much that they don’t even compete with each other. There simply is no getting better, no competition beyond that point. For me, this is true for Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams.
My last article was about Roy Haynes and how his ride cymbal pattern contains latin influences that keep it relatively straight. (LINK). On the contrary, Elvin’s ride cymbal is heavily syncopated by triplets. Recordings of Elvin Jones playing with John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, all expose a highly defined rolling triplet feel heard throug much of the tempo spectrum. Medium tempos present a beautiful example of the ‘rolling’ characteristic in his ride cymbal pattern, comping, and fills.
If you have heard Elvin Jones play before, and I sincerely hope you have, you may notice that he exerts a tremendous amount of energy on the drums. It occurred to me the other day how powerful this man’s playing was and how much energy he supplies to the band. His playing sounds like a thunderstorm complete with surprising claps of thunder that continue on throughout a powerful moment of the song.
Elvin Jones is most widely known for being the drummer in the much influential, spiritual, and infectious quartet led by John Coltrane. John Coltrane’s group pushed the envelop of jazz by employing some of the most cutting edge players around. Pianist McCoy Tyner’s modal polyrythms and transcending improvisation complimented Elvin’s drumming creating an explosive chemistry with the band. It seemed that with Coltrane’s deeply religious practice, this band’s mission was finding and channeling a higher power. Although defining the higher power in this context is subjective, its clear that Elvin and the rest of the band were on to something.
Recommended Elvin Jones recordings:
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
John Coltrane – Live At Birdland
Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil
Joe Henderson – Inner Urge
McCoy Tyner – The Real McCoy
Related Entries: Roy Haynes
