Elvin Jones Music

Recorded October 1982 for the Palo Alto Jazz label. Five of the tunes are composed by tenor & soprano saxophonist Pat La Barbera; Tadd Dameron's "Whatever Possessed Me" and the lesser-known Cy Coleman ballad "Why Try To Change Me Now" finish out the set list along with John Coltrane's "Harmonique". Piano prodigy Kenny Kirkland (also on the contemporary Earth Jones album) is wonderful, and bassist supreme Reggie Workman's presence is a reunion with another Coltrane ensemble member. The disc label has a '24 Bit' logo; anyway the original recording and remastering sound excellent here.

superb companion volume to the Feb. 1982 Van Gelder-recorded Earth Jones Palo Alto session (also available on CD).

This CD sat for months with no audio samples, and now we have the goods.

Its the bomb.. well recorded, good material, great players- nice price.

Im getting mine!

Recorded October 1982 for the Palo Alto Jazz label. Five of the tunes are composed by tenor & soprano saxophonist Pat La Barbera; Tadd Dameron's "Whatever Possessed Me" and the lesser-known Cy Coleman ballad "Why Try To Change Me Now" finish out the set list along with John Coltrane's "Harmonique". Piano prodigy Kenny Kirkland (also on the contemporary Earth Jones album) is wonderful, and bassist supreme Reggie Workman's presence is a reunion with another Coltrane ensemble member. The disc label has a '24 Bit' logo; anyway the original recording and remastering sound excellent here.

superb companion volume to the Feb. 1982 Van Gelder-recorded Earth Jones Palo Alto session (also available on CD).

This CD sat for months with no audio samples, and now we have the goods.

Its the bomb.. well recorded, good material, great players- nice price.

Im getting mine!

Great tape but too much of Bellson and Rich.
Rufus "Speedy" Jones has the best solo.
Too bad there's no Max Roach or Kenny Clarke.
Not enough Elvin Jones.
Very inspirational though. Wish it was longer.

I could dissect this DVD, but am going to resist the temptation and cite only the drummers who I admire the most and who held my attention.

My idol is Louie Belson, and the clip showing his does not disappoint. I loved the clip with Cozy Cole and Gene Krupa. I think Krupa was a great drummer and superb showman, but Cozy Cole blew him away in the short clip with the two of them.

Joe Morello is another favorite who works wonders with odd time signatures. His short piece in this video is classic Morello and exposes a lot of his technique since he starts the set by playing his kit with his hands! I learned much from that segment.

Blakely is another drummer who I thoroughly enjoyed watching and hearing, and like the Morello clip, I was able to add to my technique. However, as good as Belson's work on this DVD was, the highlight in my opinion was the Lionel Hampton sequences which showcased the genius of this vibe player who was also a master of a drum kit.

You'll pick up a large number of tips and techniques as you watch this DVD a few times, and will find that each drummer highlighted will have a subtle influence on your own style. The entertainent value is as high as the learning value.

I was personally most excited by the drumming sequence featuring Sunny Murray who seems to exude music through his whole body as if his body was part of the drum kit or the drum kit was an extension of his body. Music has got to be the thing so I'm less taken with Buddy Rich who is the "fastest drummer alive with the greatest technique etc" but I find musically uninteresting. Elvin Jones I was also taken with. The sequence with Louis Bellson was definitely the most accomplished in terms of development, musical interest and structure whilst Joe Morello being described by narrator Peter Erskine as the "poet" of the drum kit, may well be right. For drummers and jazz lovers.

I'm pretty disappointed with this video. For starters, I wish that Hudson Music could've provided better audio/video examples of Rufus "Speedy" Jones (poor audio), Elvin Jones (not enough), Sonny Payne (poor video) and Chico Hamilton (not enough). Maybe it wasn't possible to get better examples, but i don't see the point watching a video where it's next to impossible to make out Sonny Payne's stick-twirling display while he solos. I also wished that Hudson Music played a few bars of music from each act leading into the drum solo, rather than have the drum solo already underway as the video appears. The drum battles were very short and for the most part a waste (they almost always are). Highlights for me included the Buddy Rich (not the bit with Jerry Lewis), Louie Bellson, Joe Morello and Sam Woodyard solos. I'm glad i didn't pay the retail price for this.

Thankyou Hudson Music for putting this out. It not only helps keep some great drummers music and contributions alive, but its great fun to watch and is very instructional-since you get to see some of the founding fathers of drumming. Every drummer should see these old clips because then you can understand where the great drummers of today come from.
This is a must for your collection.

Dating from Feb.1965,this is a quartet featuring Charlie Mariano on alto sax.,Richard Davis on bass,Roland Hanna on piano on tracks 1-3,Hank Jones playing piano on tracks 7-10,with Elvin Jones as leader on drums.Tracks include Dear John C,Ballade,Love Bird,Everything Happens To Me,Smoke Rings,This Love of Mine,Anthropology,Feeling Good,Fantazm and That Five Four Bag,the last track being in addition to the vynil version.Mariano plays beautifully,likewise both pianists,Richard Davis is superb and very well recorded with Elvin playing with great taste and taking some nice solos.I,ve had this set on vynil for around 40 years and was fortunate to get a used CD in as new condition via Amazon.

You'll enjoy "Dear John C" as long as your not expecting another classic Coltrane Quartet-esque effort. The closest this CD comes to matching 'Trane is on the title track, which unfortunately steals most of its licks from "Impressions." Actually this album's strong point is its ballads (although they're not as good as 'Trane's "Ballads"), with "Ballade," "Smoke Ring" and "Feelin Good" the best. Another disappointment is that the potentially explosive rhythm combination of Richard Davis and Elvin basically keeps it on simmer for this recording. On one track, "This Love of Mine," Davis streches out and Jones cranks up the poly-rhythms, but otherwise they really keep it under control, playing more to match the bop styles of Mariano, Hanna, and brother Hank. In all, there's nothing terrible on "Dear John C.", but there's nothing to write home about either.

This album is a classic of mid-1960's jazz. Mariano, one of the great invisible talents of the era, plays at the top of his form, Hank Jones and Roland Hanna do priceless work on the piano, and the Richard Davis/Jones rhythm section keeps it loose and flowing throughout. "Everything Happens to Me" is a heartbreaking ballad, but every song is a near-perfect achievement. It's astonishing to me that this CD has gone out of print. I would rate it alongside Shorter's "Speak No Evil," Coltrane's "Live at Birdland," Andrew Hill's "Point of Departure," and so on--one of the ten or twenty masterpieces of a golden age in jazz.