Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Elvin Jones will always be best-known for his association with the classic John Coltrane Quartet (1960-1965) but he also had a notable career as a bandleader and continued to be a major influence in music. One of the all-time great drummers (bridging the gap between advanced hard bop and the avant-garde), Jones is the younger brother of a remarkable musical family that also includes Hank and Thad Jones. After spending time in the Army (1946-1949), he was a part of the very fertile Detroit jazz scene of the early '50s. He moved to New York in 1955, worked with Teddy Charles and the Bud Powell Trio, and recorded with Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins (the latter at his famous Village Vanguard session). After stints with J.J. Johnson (1956-1957), Donald Byrd (1958), Tyree Glenn, and Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jones became an important member of John Coltrane's Quartet, pushing the innovative saxophonist to remarkable heights and appearing on most of his best recordings. When Coltrane added Rashied Ali to his band in late 1965 as second drummer, Jones was reportedly not pleased and soon departed. He went on a European tour with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and then started leading his own groups, which in the '90s became known as Elvin Jones' Jazz Machine. He remained active well into the 2000s and continued to push himself musically with the Jazz Machine, inviting young lions into the fold and touring regularly. Among his sidemen were saxophonists Frank Foster, Joe Farrell, George Coleman, Pepper Adams, Dave Liebman, Pat LaBarbera, Steve Grossman, Andrew White, Ravi Coltrane, and Sonny Fortune, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianists Dollar Brand and Willie Pickens, keyboardist Jan Hammer, and bassists Richard Davis, Jimmy Garrison, Wilbur Little, and Gene Perla among others. Jones recorded as a leader for many labels including Atlantic, Riverside, Impulse, Blue Note, Enja, PM, Vanguard, Honey Dew, Denon, Storyville, Evidence, and Landmark.
His dedication to and love of the drums were such that even in the face of health problems he continued to mount the drum stand, occasionally accompanied by an oxygen tank. On May 18, 2004, drum legend Elvin Jones suffered heart failure and passed away.
Wikipedia:
Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan.
He served in the United States Army from 1946 to 1949 and subsequently played in a Detroit houseband led by Billy Mitchell. He moved to New York in 1955 and worked as a sideman for Charles Mingus, Teddy Charles, Bud Powell and Miles Davis.
From 1960 to 1966 he was a member of the John Coltrane quartet (along with Jimmy Garrison on bass and McCoy Tyner on Piano), a celebrated recording phase, appearing on such albums as A Love Supreme. Following his work with John Coltrane, Jones led several small groups, some under the name The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine. He recorded with both of his brothers during his career, jazz musicians Hank Jones and Thad Jones.
Biography
Early life
Elvin Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan to parents Henry and Olivia Jones who moved to Michigan from Vickisburg, Mississippi. By age two he said he knew he held a fascination for drums. He would watch the circus marching band parades go by his home as a boy, particularly fascinated by the drummers. Following his early passion, Elvin joined his high school's black marching band, where he developed his foundation in rudiments. Jones began service in the United States Army in 1946. He was discharged in 1949, and returned home penniless. Jones said he borrowed thirty-five dollars from his sister when he got back to buy his first drumset.
Elvin began his professional career in 1949 with a short-lived gig in Detroit's Grand River Street club. Eventually he went on to play with artists such as Miles Davis and Wardell Gray. In 1955, after a failed audition for the Benny Goodman band, he found work in New York, joining Charles Mingus's band, and releasing a record called J is for Jazz.
1960–1966: John Coltrane and beyond
In 1960, he joined with the classic John Coltrane Quartet, which also included bassist Jimmy Garrison and pianist McCoy Tyner. Jones and Coltrane often played extended duet passages. This band is widely considered to have redefined "swing" (the rhythmic feel of jazz) in much the same way that Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and others did during earlier stages of jazz's development. He stayed with Coltrane until 1966. By that time, Jones was not entirely comfortable with Coltrane's new direction and his polyrhythmic style clashed with the "multidirectional" approach of the group's second drummer, Rashied Ali.
Jones remained active after leaving the John Coltrane group, and led several bands in the late sixties and seventies that are considered highly influential groups. Notable among them was a trio formed with saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Joe Farrell and (ex-Coltrane) bassist Jimmy Garrison, with whom he recorded the Blue Note album Puttin' It Together. Jones recorded extensively for Blue Note under his own name in the late sixties and early seventies, with groups that featured prominent as well as up and coming greats. The two volume Live at The Lighthouse showcases a 21- and 26-year-old Steve Grossman and Dave Liebman, respectively. Other musicians of note who made significant contributions to Elvin's music during this period were baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, tenor saxophonists George Coleman and Frank Foster, trumpeter Lee Morgan, bassist Gene Perla, keyboardist Jan Hammer and Jazz - World Music group Oregon.
Late career
Elvin Jones' sense of timing, polyrhythms, dynamics, timbre, and legato phrasing brought the drumset to the foreground. Jones was touted by Life Magazine as "the world's greatest rhythmic drummer", and his free-flowing style was a major influence on many leading drummers, including Christian Vander, Mitch Mitchell (whom Jimi Hendrix called "my Elvin Jones") and Ginger Baker. He appeared as the villain Job Cain in the 1971 off-beat Western film Zachariah, in which he performed a drum solo after winning a saloon gunfight. In 1999, Jones worked with Our Lady Peace on their album Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch. He was featured playing drums on the song "Stealing Babies", which was also featured on their 2009 compilation album The Very Best of Our Lady Peace.
Jones performed and recorded with his own group, the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, whose line up changed through the years. Sonny Fortune and Ravi Coltrane, John Coltrane's son, both played saxophone with the Jazz Machine in the early 1990s, appearing together with Jones on In Europe on Enja Records in 1991. Jones, who taught regularly, often took part in clinics, played in schools, and gave free concerts in prisons. His lessons emphasized music history as well as drumming technique.
Elvin Jones died of heart failure in Englewood, New Jersey on May 18, 2004. He is survived by his first wife Shirley and his second, albeit common-law, wife Keiko (Elvin married Keiko before divorcing Shirley, meaning that legally he and Keiko were not married). Elvin Jones is survived by his son Elvin Nathan Jones of California and daughter Rose-Marie Rosie Nyberg of Sweden.
