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The evolution from hard-bop drumming to abstract drumming was symbolized by
Michigan-born drummer Elvin Jones (1927), the younger brother of pianist Hank and trumpeter Thad, who had moved to New York in 1955 playing on important recordings by Sonny Rollins (1957) and Miles Davis (1960).
His groundbreaking work was done with John Coltrane's quartet (1960-65), particularly in their extended duet passages.
As a leader, Jones was surprisingly conservative.
His debut album, Elvin (january 1962), that included Jones' Ray-El, in a sextet with his brothers Thad and Hank plus flute, tenor and bass, offered old-fashioned swing music.
A collaboration with bassist Jimmy Garrison resulted in the sextet (altoist Sonny Simmons, pianist McCoy Tyner, baritonist, flutist/clarinetist) of Illumination (august 1963), another conventional swing album.
A collaboration with Miles Davis' drummer Philly Joe Jones and others yielded Together (february 1961), that included Jones' 13-minute Beau-ty.
The quartet (altoist Charlie Mariano, bassist Richard Davis, pianist) of Dear John C. (february 1965) was ostensibly a tribute to Coltrane but sounded hardly
revolutionary.
Only the tenor-trumpet quartet of Live at the Village Vanguard (march 1968) came close to the style of early Coltrane, but Jones was not a protagonist
(although he contributed the 15-minute Mister Jones).
Puttin' It Together (april 1968) and The Ultimate (september 1968) were credited to the Elvin Jones Trio, but were mainly showcases for Joe Farrell (tenor, soprano and flute).
Jones' combos played diligent hard-bop, but little imagination but great class.
Farrell, tenorist George Coleman and baritonist Pepper Adams were the stars of the sextet that cut Polycurrents (september 1969) with Jones' 13-minute Agenda.
Genesis (february 1971) had Three Card Molly performed by a quintet with Farrell and Dave Liebman.
The last 30 years of his career provided little music worth listening to,
despite a quintet, the Jazz Machine.
Elvin Jones died of a heart attack in 2004 at 76.
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