tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853772569125614798.post3970729608417679039..comments2024-03-29T00:34:36.221-07:00Comments on JazzProfiles: Elvin Jones : 1927-2004 - Poly, Multi and Counter Rhythmic DrummerUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6853772569125614798.post-40858057286987772082017-04-18T07:07:37.276-07:002017-04-18T07:07:37.276-07:00Elvin Jones was the last of four real influences o...Elvin Jones was the last of four real influences on my playing.<br />Gene Krupa with Benny Goodman was first, then Barrett Deems with Louis Armstrong, Mel Lewis in the big bands of Terry Gibbs and especially Gerald Wilson and then came Elvin Jones with John Coltrane.<br /><br />Oh, I learned from Art Blakey, Louis Hayes, Art Taylor, Charlie Persip, Sonny Payne, Buddy Rich, Irv Kotler, Jimmy Cobb, but it was Jones who gave me a new path to follow. The commentary described the technical redesign well. Right hand ride cymbal, left foot hi hat, rock solid on two and four or on two in 3/4 time as I learned from Louis Hayes and Sam Jones.....back to Elvin Jones, the accents and counter rhythms you were now free to inject with power, right foot bass and left hand snare but also joined by right hand right foot left hand. It was such a natural way of playing, but definitely asserting oneself into the emotional mix. I thought the great Ginger Baker brought the same kind of freedom and excitement to rock with Cream.<br /><br />A couple of years after hearing Coltrane I was playing a Trust Fund gig with a band headed by legendary Chicago, swing and dixieland players Matty Matlock , Jackie Coon, Warren Smith on clarinet, trumpet and trombone and all swinging hard and there I am adding a few Elvin Jones inspired bangs, crashes and extended riffs over the first bar and a half of a solo. My dad had taped the mini concert to pitch the band, but the A&R guy at Columbia noticed it right away....but he couldn't wrap his brain around the approach. It didn't seem out of place to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcksiaQp0Hg <br /><br />Sitting 10 feet from the stage at Shelly's Manne Hole hearing John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones....it was 53 years ago and I can see and feel it right now. ExDrummerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12058935934008234280noreply@blogger.com