bballdrummer34
Senior Member
This might be the best video on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74MvcFBLJdY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74MvcFBLJdY
This might be the best video on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74MvcFBLJdY
Or this just recently put up of the Elvin Jones Trio. Nice!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4plvPrYgkDU
I love just about anything with Elvin on it, but Sun Ship really messes up my head.
I look at the John Coltrane Quartet's music as a cosmic spherical astrolabe type machine that used non-resolving harmony and triplet based rhythmic structures to create wheels within wheels which spun with such intensity that it created its own ever increasing centrifugal force. By the time Sun Ship was recorded the process was nearly complete and music had become more fragmented sounding while still remaining in the context of their established rhythmic and harmonic concept. Soon the the sphere would blow up into a giant super-nova and the mission was completed, leaving Coltrane free to explore the universe in a more ethereal vehical.
That's the way I see it anyway.
Nice vid - at around 3.44 does anyone notice that, that swinging marching line is the same one off Zoltan by Larry Young on Unity?
I love just about anything with Elvin on it, but Sun Ship really messes up my head.
I look at the John Coltrane Quartet's music as a cosmic spherical astrolabe type machine that used non-resolving harmony and triplet based rhythmic structures to create wheels within wheels which spun with such intensity that it created its own ever increasing centrifugal force. By the time Sun Ship was recorded the process was nearly complete and music had become more fragmented sounding while still remaining in the context of their established rhythmic and harmonic concept. Soon the the sphere would blow up into a giant super-nova and the mission was completed, leaving Coltrane free to explore the universe in a more ethereal vehical.
That's the way I see it anyway.
I have always loved this guy, he's my all-time favorite jazz drummer. But what can you say about Elvin that his playing doesn't say for itself?
So let me just tell a little story... I went to see Elvin once, many years (well probably two-plus decades!) ago. His band was playing at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California. I got there early, and picked a seat in the front row center. The stage was only a few feet high, and his kit was set up right up front, so his kick drum was right in my face, just a few feet away. I remember he had a Tony-Williams-style yellow Gretsch kit that looked and sounded amazing.
Elvin came out before the gig, and was just standing onstage checking out the audience. He saw me sitting there and said "Hey, you look like Chick Corea." (Which I kinda did, at the time...) That would have been the perfect opportunity to have gotten to talk to my hero a bit, but of course I was so surprised and nervous, all I could do was blurt out a Ralph Kramden-like hamana-hamana-hamana stuttering kind of thing. Then he turned and walked backstage.
Anyway, needless to say it was an amazing gig and I was in heaven thoughout the two shows that night. And almost deaf when it was over and I drove home, cuz he was kind of a hard hitter, and like I said, I was right in front of his drums.
One other thing... I don't if it's been mentioned in the thread yet, but probably a lot of people don't realize: Elvin was a grunter! He would kinda grunt along in time with the music. I could hear him pretty clearly all through that show. Kinda weird, actually. After that, I started listening to all my Coltrane records closely, and you can sometimes hear him in quiet spots on the recordings, too.
I have always loved this guy, he's my all-time favorite jazz drummer. But what can you say about Elvin that his playing doesn't say for itself?
So let me just tell a little story... I went to see Elvin once, many years (well probably two-plus decades!) ago. His band was playing at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California. I got there early, and picked a seat in the front row center. The stage was only a few feet high, and his kit was set up right up front, so his kick drum was right in my face, just a few feet away. I remember he had a Tony-Williams-style yellow Gretsch kit that looked and sounded amazing.
Elvin came out before the gig, and was just standing onstage checking out the audience. He saw me sitting there and said "Hey, you look like Chick Corea." (Which I kinda did, at the time...) That would have been the perfect opportunity to have gotten to talk to my hero a bit, but of course I was so surprised and nervous, all I could do was blurt out a Ralph Kramden-like hamana-hamana-hamana stuttering kind of thing. Then he turned and walked backstage.
Anyway, needless to say it was an amazing gig and I was in heaven thoughout the two shows that night. And almost deaf when it was over and I drove home, cuz he was kind of a hard hitter, and like I said, I was right in front of his drums.
One other thing... I don't if it's been mentioned in the thread yet, but probably a lot of people don't realize: Elvin was a grunter! He would kinda grunt along in time with the music. I could hear him pretty clearly all through that show. Kinda weird, actually. After that, I started listening to all my Coltrane records closely, and you can sometimes hear him in quiet spots on the recordings, too.
Sun Ship isn't their last album. Actually, the Quartet's "'First' Meditations" is their last album. Before Trane recorded the album "Meditations" he did it with the quartet, which to me is a more enjoyable listening experience.
One other thing... I don't if it's been mentioned in the thread yet, but probably a lot of people don't realize: Elvin was a grunter! He would kinda grunt along in time with the music. I could hear him pretty clearly all through that show. Kinda weird, actually. After that, I started listening to all my Coltrane records closely, and you can sometimes hear him in quiet spots on the recordings, too.
great story! One of the few of my heroes that I haven't seen. Since you were so close to his foot, how did he play it? heel toe? heel up? was his foot technique special. Could you describe it ? thanks
Keiko came out and tuned the kit right before the band walked out on stage with the whole audience seated ready to enjoy the show.
No, sorry I can't, cuz I was sitting directly in front of his kick, and a little below, like my face was at the level of the center of the kick. I probably could've noticed his leg bouncing if he played heel up, but I don't remember, it was so long ago.
I don't remember seeing Keiko there that night, but he must have been married to her at that time. Cool that she tuned his drums for him!
Btw... ain't it a shame that guys like Elvin can't make a living in the US, but have to move to Japan or Europe cuz that's where they are appreciated?