Elvin Jones POX

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RIP

Obv. this will be largely 'trane stuff but if anyone knows of any ridic non-trane recordings this is the place to put them.

Songs and albums allowed.

― djdee2005, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 01:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I was listening to his On the Mountain (1975) over the past few days, a trio album recorded with Jan Hammer and Gene Perla. On the opening track, "Thorn of a White Rose" he really goes off, in more of a rock style reminiscent at times of Tony Williams.

― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 01:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I just have to say that "India", from disc 2 of "Live at the Village Vanguard", is the greatest jazz recording I have ever heard (I'm not a jazz afficionado (sp?), but that's how it is to my ears).

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil", the album. I've never heard him play quite like that on any other album, he sounds like himself but with a little more sophistication and slickness, almost like he was putting a little more Tony Williams or Roy Haynes in his playing. I love it...it was actually the first Elvin I heard back in high school, and I remember that it was ear-opening to hear a jazz drummer who wasn't afraid to just up and crash a cymbal in the middle of the bar.

Also, Sonny Sharrock's "Ask the Ages" is a fantastic (relatively) recent Elvin performance, shows that he hadn't lost a bit of fire.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 04:03 (twenty-two years ago)

im going to have to dig a bit before i can complete this, but the top place on the list is occupied by "afro-blue" from Live at Birdland. Easily. I also like his playing on Shorter's Night Dreamer.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 04:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Jordan superbly OTM about both albums. One of my favorite Elvin performances is actually very early, from the Sonny Rollins "Live At The Village Vanguard Vol. 1". 'Night In Tunisia' alone gives me nightmares, visions of Sonny and Elvin breaking down the doors of my house.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 05:05 (twenty-two years ago)

a love supreme, part 2, resolution. after coltrane states the theme and begins soloing, elvin is just a force of nature, rolling and crashing, bouncing around the kit. tyner takes his turn and elvin quiets down, letting the cymbals do the work, letting tyner make those pretty runs up and down, but they keep pushing each other forward until it's all choppy and smashing around, and by the time coltrane comes back in, it's just relentless, like all the blood of every percussionist ever is pumping through him and why does it have to end?

― .rob (rgeary), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 05:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, Ask the Ages was the first album I reached for tonight. Hadn't heard it in about six years but actually it had been on my list of records to re-play, for an unrelated reason. Elvin sure sounded great on it. Be sure to check his solo at the end of "Promises Kept" and those rhythmically rich toms undergirding "Once Upon A Time". Damn. He kind of made that record, didn't he? That record meant a lot to me when it came out; 2nd year of college, lots of memories accompanied that one.

His cymbal work is so great. No one really sounded quite like him, did they? He's instantly recognizable. All those short rolls into crashes. OK. Now it's time for Sun Ship (title track SMOKES) and bed...

― Broheems (diamond), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 05:51 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah, if i put on any trane tonight it's got to be Sun Ship.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:49 (twenty-two years ago)

"He kind of made that record, didn't he?"

i mean, isn't that the point? granted , in the quartet he was up against two others as good as him, but he always added that inimitable free-swing type of pulse which seems to me like an almost perfect soloing environment; check out his work on tyner's "passion dance", during joe henderson's solo just precisely mutilating the beat and then swinging right back into it .. if that's 1, then

2)"as we used to sing" on ask the ages
3)"softly as in a morning sunrise" from coltrane's "village vanguard"
4)"india" from ibid
5) fuck i need more time to think and am too tired/drunk
search: anytime he plays in 3/4

― jake in portland (cerybut), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 06:52 (twenty-two years ago)

They played the entire ASK THE AGES album this am on a local jazz station. What a great album

― meister, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I listened to Live at the Village Vanguard last night (Coltrane, not Sonny, though that's good too). I was really struck by Impressions, which was faster than I remember it but it doesn't seem like it because Elvin is so relaxed and free, while not dropping the tempo an iota.

Tonight I think I'm going to listen to Crescent, which was always my favorite (just as Love Supreme and Live at Birdland are also my favorites, and buy Transition, which I only heard on the radio a few months ago.
Two other fantastic Elvin Jones records:

Gil Evans - The Individualism of Gil Evans. As great as the large group writing is on this, Elvin really makes it happen. It's a different side of him but at times it seems like a duet between him and Gil-as-the-orchestra.

Larry Young - Unity. I'm going to have to pull this out again, I used to listen to it all the time. I think this may have some of his most jazz-based, tricky solos on it (as opposed to his earth-shaking African drum group solos).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Did he really play with Our Lady Peace?!

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I've got five Coltrane albums on my iPod: A Love Supreme, Crescent, Live At Birdland, Live At The Village Vanguard and Impressions. Really wishing I'd imported Sun Ship right now. Ask The Ages, too. And Momentum Space with Dewey Redman and Cecil Taylor (a totally underrated record). And McCoy Tyner's The Real McCoy.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Two of my favorites were already mentioned - Sonny Rollins A Night at the Village Vanguard, indeed "A Night in Tunisia" and Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil. Let me add Roland Kirk's Rip Rig and Panic on which Elvin is the perfect foil for Kirk's shenanigans.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

So great to see so much love for Ask The Ages here!

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Blue Note must reissue "The Ultimate Elvin Jones," his 1968 recording Jones made with Jimmy Garrison and Joe Farrell. Sublime and fervent, often at the same moment!

― paul c (paul c), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Richard Davis & Elvin Jones - Heavy Sounds. Raunchy Rita is hot, Summertime is gorgeous, and Elvin plays guitar!

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

1. "Promises Kept" (w/Sonny Sharrock)
2. "Rip Rig & Panic" (w/Roland Kirk)
3. "Chasin' The Trane"
4. "Africa" (first take)
5. "Song Of The Underground Railroad"
6. "Out Of This World"
7. "A Love Supreme: Acknowledgement"
8. "Sun Ship"
9. "India"
10."Transition"

All but the first two with Coltrane, of course. I wish those Insect Trust LPs would be reissued, altho Elvin only played on parts of their second LP, I think.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 16:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm listening to Lee Konitz's Motion right now, from '61. It's pretty good, but Elvin's a bit restrained on it, as befits the material. Bunch of standards. First two cuts taken at a brisk pace, Elvin in more of a time-keeping role; he's not really playing in that unmistakable style of his here. Things start to open up a bit on the next couple tracks; he takes a nice solo on "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To". That was a treat. But yeah, I wouldn't call this record the best place to hear him.

Next up: New York Is Now. ALso this old Jimmy Forrest Delmark record I have that I totally didn't realize (or forgot, I guess) that he's on.

Oh can I just say that "Many Mansions" from Ask the Ages is some heavy heavy shit. Like, skies-opening, book-of-revelations heavy. I can't believe some of the stuff he plays here; big thundering rolls, huge snare hits when you least expect them. Why have I kept this record in storage for so long?? I guess I had burnt out on it in the early 90s. I listened three times last night.

― Broheems (diamond), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 17:48 (twenty-two years ago)

"many mansions" is classic, my favorite on that record. momentum space has been at a friends house for a few months now :-(

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 19:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Elvin Jones playing behind Coltrane on "Afro Blue" on 'Live from Birdland' ignited of the most exciting solo passages ever. Elvin just digs in and seems to force the notes out of Trane's saxophone. It is one of the rare moments of music that always gives me chills.

― earlnash, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

As much as I enjoyed, Ask the Ages, I always thought Charnette Moffett sounded out of his element and kind of lost...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I always liked the bass playing on that record, he has some really nice vamps. I haven't listened to it for so long that I can't remember much else though (I'm putting it on tonight though!).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Nah, Charnett is great on it. (He probably wouldn't appreciate his name being feminized either.) They all worked amazingly well together. The whole record is perfect, really.

Wow, I had totally forgotten what New York is Now sounded like. Another one I hadn't pulled out in too long. It's interesting to hear Jones playing Coleman's compositions ... he sounds like he is having fun.. REALLY elastic time. Practically amorphous on "Broad Way Blues". Takes an enjoyable solo on "Toy Dance" .. almost all snare-work. Again, he's playing with a lighter touch here. It doesn't make me wish he'd replaced Blackwell in the quartet .. but a great listen nonetheless. Fuck, I KNEW the day would come and I'd regret selling Love Call at a time when I needed some extra cash. I need to buy that sucker back.

― Broheems (diamond), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:37 (twenty-two years ago)

He probably wouldn't appreciate his name being feminized either.

It didn't seem to bother Ornette!

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 20:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Nope, I listened to Ask the Ages, just to make sure you know, and Charnett is killin' it. :>

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Arrrrrrggghhhhh can't find my copy of Coltrane's Live at the Village Vanguard!

― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 20 May 2004 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

All the above...I was listening to "Ask the Ages" just now and went to the NYTimes, saw Mr. Jones' obituary...I'll be pulling out my Coltrane and Shorter CDs tonight. And Hank Jones as well...

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 20 May 2004 19:28 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

whats mr thunder like?

― charltonlido (gareth), Sunday, 31 July 2005 21:55 (twenty years ago)

nineteen years pass...

Lately I've been into hearing Elvin in more straight-ahead, less open contexts, a la

Earl Hines -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz_gIkgyxHU

multiple trio albums with his brother Hank -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgvfu2hbFV8

Earl Hines & the Ellington band -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-6JCcFqVS4

― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, 28 April 2025 17:57 (one year ago)

three months pass...

poly-currents is amazing

― ||||||||, Saturday, 16 August 2025 18:20 (nine months ago)

Yeah, the congas give it a good vibe.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Saturday, 16 August 2025 20:53 (nine months ago)

Hadn't see this before---a couple of Allen Ginsberg tracks w Elvin: Willam Blake's "The Grey Monk," from Songs of Innocence and Experience, audio-only http://media.sas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Ginsberg/Blake/Songs-of-Experience/Ginsberg-Allen_09_The-Grey-Monk_New-York_12-15-69.mp3

"Little Fish, Big Fish": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIjVYxfdgFI

― dow, Saturday, 16 August 2025 23:09 (nine months ago)

We Kiss In a Shadow / Sonny Rollins. Also Elvin's Guitar Blues, obv.

― fetter, Sunday, 17 August 2025 20:49 (nine months ago)

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