jazz musician; drummer
Personal Information
Born September 9, 1927, in Pontiac, MI; son of a Baptist deacon and lumber inspector; married; wife's name, Keiko.
Military/Wartime Service: U.S. Army, 1946-49.
Career
Jazz drummer and recording artist; member of John Coltrane Quartet, 1960-66. Appeared in film Zachariah, 1970.
Life's Work
Many music critics regard Elvin Jones as the most influential drummer in the history of jazz. His revolutionary style transformed the drums as a traditional time-keeping instrument. Employing a multilayered, rhythmic approach, Jones created a dynamic interplay with soloists unprecedented by earlier drum stylists. Early in his career, he performed with such jazzmen as Charles Mingus, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, and Miles Davis. However, it wasn't until he joined the John Coltrane Quartet in 1960 that Jones began to attract international recognition. During his six years with Coltrane's group, Jones contributed to some of the most celebrated recordings in the history of modern jazz. For over four decades, his innovative rhythmic technique has served as a catalyst for drummers seeking greater improvisational freedom.
Elvin Jones was born on September 9, 1927, in Pontiac, Michigan, the youngest of ten children in a musical family. In addition to his talented brothers, Hank and Thad, he had two sisters who studied piano and violin. This early exposure to music was the foundation for Jones's later affinity for jazz. Around the age of five or six, Jones visited a fairgrounds in Pontiac where the Ringling Brothers circus drummers performed. That experience-- combined with local radio broadcasts of symphonic music that introduced him to the sound of the tympani drums--inspired him to become a percussionist. Whether at a parade or at a football game, Jones could be found observing a musical rhythm section with intent fascination and, much to the frustration of his mother, he began to practice what he learned on various objects around the house. When he reached age 14, his older sister loaned Jones money to purchase his first set of drums.
While in junior high school, Jones acquired a drum method book from which he quickly learned the rudiments of percussion. "Being able to read music," Jones explained to Herb Nolan in Down Beat, "opened up a whole world of possibilities," since it provided techniques that could be applied to other musical forms. Jones's high school band instructor, Fred N. Weist, contributed to the young drummer's knowledge and approach to percussion. However, desiring a career as a professional drummer, Jones dropped out of high school. In 1946, he ventured to Boston in search of employment. Soon, Jones found himself U.S. Army where, for the next three years, he performed in various military bands.
Returning to Michigan in 1949, Jones played in groups with his brothers, Hank and Thad. While performing in Detroit-area clubs, he shared the stage with such local greats as guitarist Kenny Burrell, bassist Paul Chambers, and pianist Tommy Flannagan. As a member of Billy Mitchell's house band at the Blue Bird, Jones performed with the finest Detroit musicians as well as jazz legends like trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist John Coltrane. "They took me as one of their own, and I began to use my abilities," reminisced Jones in the Detroit Free Press. "It was a great camaraderie there."
In 1955, Jones left for New York to audition for Benny Goodman's band. He didn't get the job but, within two weeks, he joined a group led by bassist Charles Mingus. "Elvin was a `prophet,'" declared Mingus in Mingus: A Critical Biography,. "I never swung so much or rather lived so much in my life." After touring with Mingus, Jones performed for over a year with pianist Bud Powell, a musician he considered one of the masters of modern jazz. In 1957, Jones toured Europe with trombonist J. J. Johnson. Throughout the late 1950s, he recorded with such internationally-renowned musicians as Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz, as well as, Detroiters like Chambers and Flannagan.
One of Jones's crowning achievements occured when he joined John Coltrane's Quartet in 1960. Replacing Billy Higgins on drums, Jones helped form one of the most formidable ensembles in modern jazz. Coltrane's group provided Jones with the opportunity to freely improvise within the arrangements. Along with bassist Jimmy Garrison and pianist McCoy Tyner, Jones and Coltrane conducted a powerful exchange of musical ideas. "The most impressive thing about working with 'Trane was a feeling of steady, collective learning," recalled Jones in Arthur Taylor's Notes and Tones: Musician to Musician Interviews. "I admired Coltrane both as a person and as a musician," he added. "It was the best of both possible worlds." In 1966 Coltrane added a second drummer, Rashied Ali. Jones considered this arrangement incompatible with his musical direction and chose to leave the group.
Following a brief stint in Europe with Duke Ellington's band, Jones returned to the United States where he founded several trios under his own name. The first of these featured bassist Wilbur Ware and saxophonist/flutist Joe Farrel. Soon afterward, Ware was replaced by former Coltrane Quartet member Jimmy Garrison. Because the trio did not have a guitar or piano to lay down harmonic foundations, making the group work proved a challenge for Jones. As he explained in Down Beat, the drummer's role within this format "is like the root of a tree.... You gotta be there, and firmly there."
Beginning in the 1970s, Jones organized tours to Europe, Asia, and South America and performed at clubs, clinics, high schools, and free outdoor concerts. His appearance on recordings with Ron Carter on bass and McCoy Tyner on piano influenced a new generation of musicians to take up the study of acoustic jazz. Also, Jones gained a reputation as a nurturer of new jazz talent. "Giving someone a chance is the greatest gift that you can give to another person," he commented in an interview with Ken Franckling in Down Beat. Leading his own groups, Jones employed the talents of saxophonists like Joe Farrel, Frank Foster, Dave Liebman, and George Coleman. By the 1990s, the line-up of his group, known as the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, featured saxophonists Sonny Fortune and Coltrane's son, Ravi--musicians who seem to share his philosophy. "The whole point is to play jazz, not any of its hybrid forms," Jones remarked in Down Beat. "You need to have a deep, spiritual feeling for the music."
Using only a standard drum kit--without the aid of any electronics--Jones's innovative techniques greatly influenced modern jazz drumming. One example is his circular style of drumming, an approach that uses broad sweeping movements across the drums. Often beginning an arrangement by introducing a simple pattern or theme, Jones perpetually builds the rhythm into a near- kinetic state. By removing the traditional four-four beat on the bass drum, he is able to create what he calls a more "constant flow of rhythm." On the snare drum and cymbals, he plays irregular accents that often accompany soloists in furious dialogue. Although many modernist drummers have tried to imitate Jones's techniques, they often lack his skillful execution.
Jones's effect on modern music has been profound. His improvisational approach has helped to lay the foundation for the avant-garde and fusion jazz movements. A unique and gifted individual, Jones has redefined the role of the drums in jazz music. His influence extends to a new school of jazz drummers who perform on concert stages throughout the world. As he stated in the film documentary Different Drummer, Jones believes his revolutionary drum-playing style stems from the fact that he could never "comply to the standard form." This rebellious spirit continues to compel Jones to devote his life to the pursuit of infinite rhythmic variations and creative expression.
Awards
Member of Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
Works
Selective Discography
- Solo releases Elvin!, 1962.
- Puttin' It Together: The Elvin Jones Trio, Blue Note, 1967.
- In Europe, Enja, 1992.
- Youngblood, Enja, 1993.
- Going Home, 1994.
- Very Rare, 1994.
- When I Was at Aso-Mountain, 1994.
- After the Rain, 1995.
- It Don't Mean a Thing, 1995.
- That's the Way I Feel Now (Tribute to Thelonious Monk), A&M.
- Live at the Lighthouse, Black Sun.
- Poly-Currents, Black Sun.
- With John Coltrane My Favorite Things, Atlantic, 1960.
- Ballads, Impulse, 1961.
- Live at Birdland, Impulse, 1961.
- Impressions, Impulse, 1961.
- A Love Supreme, Impulse, 1963.
- New Thing at Newport, Impulse, 1965.
- With Others (With McCoy Tyner) Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner Quintet Reunion, Black Hawk, 1982.
- (With Pharoah Sanders) Ask the Ages, Axiom, 1992.
- (With Tyner) Today and Tomorrow, Impulse.
- (With Tyner) Trident, Milestone.
Further Reading
Books
- Balliet, Whitney, Ecstacy at the Onion: Thirty-one Pieces on Jazz, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971.
- The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, edited by Barry Kernfield, MacMillan, 1988.
- Priestly, Brian, Mingus: A Critical Biography, Quartet Books, 1982.
- Taylor, Arthur, Notes and Tones: Musician to Musician Interviews, Perigee, 1982.
- Thomas, J. D., Chasin' the Trane: The Mystique of John Coltrane, Doubleday, 1975.
- Detroit Free Press, November 5, 1991.
- Down Beat, October 2, 1969; March 2, 1972; November 8, 1973; March 1992; July 1992; September 1992; November 1992.
- Jazz Journal, April 1975.
- Rolling Stone, February 4, 1993.
- Chicago Tribune, July 8, 1994.
- The New York Times, February 8, 1994, Section C, p. 15.
- The Washington Post, October 19, 1996.
- Additional information for this profile was obtained from liner notes by Billy Taylor, Puttin' It Together: The Elvin Jones Trio, Blue Note, 1967; the documentary Different Drummer: Elvin Jones, directed by Ed Gray, 1979; and a recording of a Wayne State University drum clinic, Detroit, MI, November 15, 1991.
— John Cohassey
