Wednesday, September 9

Elvin



On this date back in 1927 the greatest drummer the world has ever known was born, Mr. Elvin Jones. If Elvin hadn't of passed away back in 2004 he'd have been 81 this year and still slapping the skins. I had the pleasure of seeing Elvin Jones perform back in the early 90's at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle and it was an amazing night. Probably because I was the only person in the audience under the age of 50, Elvin came up to me after the set and shook my hand. I was so intimidated being in the presence of the man that had played on so many of my favorite jazz records all I could muster out of my mouth was "that was amazing." At which he laughed and thanked me for coming.

Here he is ripping it up from around that same time period:







Elvin recorded a great solo album in 1973, called At This Point in Time, for the legendary Blue Note Records. This record features some fantastic electric piano and synthesizer playing by none other than Jan Hammer.

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