Added: 3 years ago
From: szymbl
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  • Awesome! He is so modest..... The Greatest Drummer....so cool!

    I play in band with guy, (my friend) who has similar attitude. awesome drummers-humans :)

    hehe!

    kisses

  • Wow, I liken this video to God explaining, an then showing how the Sun, Earth, Moon, and the stars were created, this man was a drummer extraordinaire, there are/were not many who have been better, if at all, R.I.P. Elvin Jones (1927 - 2004)...

  • the teacher

  • A rare moment of magic caught on camera!

  • not complicated?? excuse me? like trying to count rain drops hiiting the windscreen! sounds totally cool, but yeah - way beyond my four beat with shmuck rolls :)

  • Look up the definition of cool in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of Elvin Jones. The coolest mofo to walk the earth.

  • this music makes him live! :)

  • And there are guys who think John Bonham was original, despite doing nothing but playing stuff those legends palyefd 10 years before.

    Ringo Starr, THAT'S a talented rock drummer, doing what nobody else did.

    creating fills so weird in their perfection that nobody else would ever come up with them.

  • As far as Elvin versus Buddy....well I read a story somewhere about this.......Louie Bellson and Buddy both going to see Elvin play with Coltrane......these guys all admired each other equally......I think this whole "who is the best" thing is silly in music...maybe in sports......where there is a winner and a loser.....personally I don't think music works that way......there is room for everyone.......Elvin, Buddy.....both amazing drummers...both totally different. I saw Elvin in Boston a lot.

  • these drummers are genius.

  • can someone help me understand what he's doing at 2:40?

  • @TMM93 Simple pattern, K = kick drum, T = Tom, S = snare

    KKTSSS, sticking for hands being RLRL

  • legend! a true innovator! thx elvin!

  • this guy definatlly knows how to drum

  • Elvin's drumming is crazy alright

  • 10 people don't know what drumming is.

  • @iloveyoubabygirlxx

    It's comments like these that make me cringe.

  • great video for drummers and all musicians am bassist but love Elvin Jones playing

  • ''And let's see how... and let's see how that...let's see how that, how that, how that develops''

  • I'be just begun to study jazz drumming, after a long introduction with swing rhythms and jazz technique, so this video will help me a lot! Thanx for uploading!

  • I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Elvin at a small club in NYC, many years ago. He was chatting at the bar with Art Blakey, before Elvin's set.

    He was extremely congenial. His playing was awesome, of course.

  • I would love to say that, that man is a god, its in our blood to be masters, when I say our blood those on the level know what I'm talking about, we brought all arts to the world HOTEP BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

  • "They always tried to get me to hate white people, but someone would always come along and spoil it." -Thelonious Monk

    calm down.

  • Wow! amazing u got ur own swag

  • awesome guy

  • FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU­UUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK thats drumming man..

  • Great! stuff love it!

  • MASTER !

  • At the end is the humble smile of an absolute genius.

  • nine people are fucking retarded

  • 1:47 Hell yeah... Raining Blood!

  • @XxSharkBatexX Here is where the slayer guys got the inspiration! xDDDDDDDD

  • @JoeJacari yes ...one block only and he stayed there

  • If nothing else, this is a fun video to watch.

  • Elvin was and is the most amazing melodic drummer ever!!!!!EVER RIP!!! R Tullius

  • 1979.... fuck-n-ay!!! I wish I was there with them!!! Music was good then, no fucking computers, no fucking goddamn shithole turntables, just real musicians that play real goddamn good music.

  • siiiiick

  • 1:16 -- holy shit, Dave Chappelle could do a great Elvin impersonation.

  • @mussman717word I just thought the same thing !

  • He sounds very intelligent

  • Cant stop looking at his biceps, no homo!

  • you gotta be a drummer to appreciate this

  • @JazzYugioh1022 No. You. Don't.

  • i love how you can hear clear references to three card molly

  • His flow is so unstoppable. The ocean wishes she had flow like this.

  • I love watching elvin's assertive playing.

  • Elvin, a true legend, plus, not sure if many noticed, but the interviewer is Tony Moreno, also an amazing drummer. Elvin took him under his wings in his younger years, and is on hundreds of recordings touring with the best of the best.

  • @marcmommaas -- wow, thanks for pointing that out. I didn't recognize Tony. Just saw Tony Moreno play here in NY a few months ago, playing great and super nice cat.

  • SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! 

  • I read somewhere recently ( can't remember where at the moment ) that Elvin said he practiced 8 hours a day for most of his teen years. Supposedly it takes about 10,000 hours to become excellent and master something. That's a humble smile of a master at the end of this clip. Total mastery and total class. Makes me proud to be a human being.

  • Elvin can get away with pushing and pulling the time because his groove is SO strong.

    Tony Williams took a lot from him.

  • Sounds like john bonham...learned alot from elvin jones....God bless...all

  • Astounding.

  • I was very fortunate to Meet Elvin at the Blue Note in 2000.. still have the drum sticks he gave me.

    Rob

  • To the naysayers of anyone at the level of Buddy or Elvin, I say this: Do the work. Stop coming on here and bitching about something very few ever understand. Both offered something completely different. Both were amazing at what they did. Now go DO! GO PLAY!!! ッ

  • wow! magia e arte pura... non ci sono parole

  • The only thing i don't like about this is the sound of the snare.

  • i think his playing is quite similar to what thomas pridgen is doing today

  • his drumming STYLE was very unique. very powerful.....

  • buddy rich is fucking aweful musically. he was a conceited jackass and was only concerned with technique and showing off.  he is gigantically over rated, do some research. elvin kicks his ass

  • @herrickwappler Buddy was awful musically? Really? Then how come he has been on soooo many jazz albums with leaders like Oscar Peterson, Lester Young, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, and Art Tatum to name a few? I suppose those guys were too dumb to realize that Buddy sucked? Take some time to learn about him. Just because pretty much all you see of him on you tube is drum solos doesn't mean that's all there was to the man. He may have been a dick, but that doesn't make him any less of a musician.

  • @WindyCityJazz

    "He may have been a dick, but that doesn't make him any less of a musician."

    WindyCityJazz 2 weeks ago 4

    Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. So true.

  • @herrickwappler I love both Elvin's and Buddy's playing, and I prefer Elvin's playing to Buddy's. However, even if I didn't like Elvin's playing, I sure as hell wouldn't rip on him because of that, so don't go ripping on Buddy just because some fool is too ignorant to recognize Elvin's great playing while praising Buddy's. Elvin and Buddy have both played with countless great jazz musicians, and neither Elvin nor Buddy would have been doing that if they didn't have exceptional skills.

  • GENIUS!

  • @DudeItsAnAccount Don't be upset because you have small feeble musical mind. There's a lot of people you that have such a closed mind that the can't enjoy really great music. It's ok though because your not alone. Your also doing a great deed by being such a fucking idiot you make people with actual intelligence and wisdom feel grateful for having their gifts. Thanks moron!

  • Almost sounds like Morgan Freeman when he speaks.

  • There will never be another Elvin! Hard hitting, with the such a smooth touch! They don't make 'em like this any more.

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  • Demon face at 0:29

    niiiiiiiiiice

  • RIP Elvin

    ...we miss you

  • i just love these old jazzers.....

  • Elvin Rules as a drummer and a person..Thanks for sharing this!!

  • he truly has the right to say that he's a jedi

  • What a star. I just got curious about him from my Stan Getz & Bill Evans CD. I'm no musician, but I recognise when I'm in the presence of a master

  • GENIUS!!!!!!

  • I saw this on a television show called NIGHT FLIGHT, a long time ago, it blew my mind.

  • It doesnt really get any better than this,sure there are guys like Donati and Lang but they dont have that something special Elvin had

  • is this from a dvd? is it still available?

  • Elvin is incredible. He has one of the best drum approaches of all time and always sounds like a heavyweight. I'm not sure he really knows how to put it in words though, and it's likely not even possible.

  • TOTALLY INCREDIBLE !! I have learned lots about feel from ElVin JoNeS ! Thank-You ElVin !!!!!

  • search:  Amorphic drum ...( 1st video result ).

    what technique is this??

  • jazz drummers always impress me

  • you gotta LOVE Elvin's crazy eyes!!

  • WTF.....just too much....legendary

  • yes dynamics! the best part about being able to play soft and in time is...the softer you hit your drums the bigger they sound. one time in the studio the drummer was playing 16x16 floor tom with his hands so lightly you could hear a pin drop but in the control room it sounded like thunder! imagine being an ant and standing next to that tom you would shit your pants. well its kinda like that.

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  • Elvin Jones is probably the most spontaniously creative drummer I've ever seen

  • That's not weed. That would be herion. And he sounds like Kiana reeves. Jk

  • mitch Mitchell...is that u??

  • those old kits sounded so nice...

  • @micoo .u nailed it.

    respect ,that is what we should have for such a great drummer.true legend.rip elvin

    jones

  • This is from the different Drummer video

  • his voice sounds like morgan freeman's after smoking copious amounts of weed

  • he's hench

  • Beautiful!! I never had the opportunity to meet Elvin,but this clip indicates that he was a very warm,patient and intelligent cat.

  • I used to think this stuff kind of sounded weird and out of time because all i knew was marching and concert where chops and time are the most important. i think i'm at a point where now i see this guy is making music and he clearly loves it enough to make the drums a very musical soloistic instrument.

  • @Mcubed7107 Time is a rudiment. Elvin came from BeBop where he studied all fundamentals so long they became muscle memory, instinctive. Then he could play the song in his head, listen to his mates' music as it happened, and just get out of the way and let the song move his soul and let the song play through him. You have to have the discipline of time before you can let it go in a musical way. No shortcuts. Just don't get stuck in the revolving door.

  • wat dvd is this from??

  • Elvin Jones was clearly the better man!

  • Elvin wasn't a drummer , he was a whole tribe~

  • Does he count ? I don't think so.

  • @gostu I think you are right in a sense, but only because it is second nature. He knows the melody, and has played so much he doesn't need to count beats, they are there. He has such good pulse. If my met wasn't broken I would test it, haha.

  • @gostu if you hear the melody it isn't always necessary to count. I think elvin always knew where he was in the bar but the melody took him where he needed to go.

  • Does he count ? I don't find so.

  • This is technical stuff, you have to be a musician to really appreciate this. Im not a technical musician, im more earcandy, whatever sounds catchy to me. I try to make all my songs sound catchy.

  • Such majesty and power! Elvin is one of the inventors of drumming.

  • @ignaciomoran no doubt

  • Such a unique style with chops. I remember watching the old clips of Elvin on TV years back, always will be The Killer jazz drummer.

  • love how he looks around at the end. what a humble kind genius.

  • he talks like morgan freeman

  • @futurerev21 no. morgan freeman talks like him.

  • @MrPocketGroover and dave chappelle

  • Elvin Is The SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Elvin Jones, a Drum God.

    A Being of Darkness & Light playing with Light & Darkness... and the other way around...

    Infinitely Powerful, yet Loving, Caring, taking the time to Choose each one of his words...

    Then, in Cantillation, literally Calling, Phrasing the Rythms...

    Humble, Simple... True.

  • From the documentary Different Drummer 1979

  • the legend

  • its hard to explain something this hard and good

  • Elvin Jones....if Buddy Rich is Zeus, Elvin Jones is Hercules. There will likely never be a drummer like Elvin Jones again. He is a drum god.

  • You must have fell and hit your head!

  • You honestly think Elvin Jones is just average? You're the one with a damaged head, not me.

  • @jetfreak4 Heracles was a demi-god. Elvin Jones would be more like Apollo.

  • @jetfreak4 is that supposed to be an offhanded insult to elvin?

  • @jetfreak4

    If Morgan Freeman just smoked a fat blunt

  • @jetfreak4 Have you heard Lyndon Rochelle' he comes pretty close! But yeah Elvin is bad!

  • he kinda sounds like morgan freeman

    i've been drumming for only about 5 months and I am just blown away by this guy, he is so impressive and knows everything about it, i wanna be like that some day

  • "That's exactly what it is."

  • oh man that's it right there...

  • i love elvin's voice for some reason

  • @tajto

    you mean he's speaking voice right??

    me too!

    it's sort of relaxing:)

  • yeahh he sounds like an announcer for a movie from the 1940's or something

  • Elvin for me blends with his great music skills a huge amount of mystery and magic

  • Many musicians will involuntarily hum the melody to themselves, or whatever it is they're playing. I've heard Elvin humming quite loudly on some live Coltrane albums.

  • who notices that on nearly every bop record, theres always this croaky tiny man voice that youcan only just hear. i noticed it on midnight monk, is it the drummer humming the tune or is it the chain n the hi hat squeaking? anyone know what i mean?

  • I make involuntary sounds (with my mouth shut) when I drum also.

  • @larkydozer i yell whenever i mess up haha

  • Interesting.

    I don't do that... I just make weird sounds. Sort of annoying if I ever record.

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  • nice ! :)

  • The Doors drummer John Densmore cited Elvin Jones as his main influence.

  • amazing!!!

  • R.I.P. Elvin Jones

  • Nice!

  • I've seen elvin play 4 times and every time I fall asleep. Its the weirdest phenomenon. Even 10 feet away,,, I just start saying "Oh my G-d" over and over in my mind, his playing is so spiritual and I have to use all of my energy just to listen.. Eventually, I just put my head down.

  • i don't think falling asleep is a good thing! really, think about it, if you fall asleep, then he is boring you

  • Boring and lulling are two different things. That said, it is pretty odd that anyone would be anything but utterly captivated by this man's playing.

  • i feel like he cudda been talkin bout how to cook french toast. kinda like " this is how it is, or how you do it"

  • saw him in the 80's. VERY loud drummer. Amazing.

  • How do I get that Bass drum tuning?

  • This is great. Does anyone know what this is from and is there more footage?

  • this is from a video called "different drummer" which is a great portrait about king elvin

  • say it, Elvin! I must have watched this a million times, lol

  • if you have more of this please put it up

  • thanks

  • Holy's mother, tihs is a interestin exenple brum solo...

  • It's great that someone filmed this and put it up!....

  • Elvin was a true intellectual on the drums.

  • Notice the VOLUME? The old school guys had to be able to "get under" acoustic instruments and still have power and excitement. That's called MUSICIANSHIP Ensemble, Dynamics. I often call it playing the song and not just your instrument. I ask people to do this I get either dumbfounded looks, or contempt. When I play my electric bass, I have an amp & I can get pretty damn loud if I want. But Im always trying to stay under whatever is going on. Anybody else have this problem?

  • Oh yeah - I grew up playing progressive rock. It's a deficit I've been trying to overcome my entire adult life! ;)

  • @evensteve284 I think Elvin Jones himself is musicianship.

    anybody heard of Brian Viglione?

  • You mean they actually play the instrument as it should be played? What an amazing thing! It's one reason why the "old school" drummers like Elvin used minimal miking while on the band stand.

  • @evensteve284 I'm an old school guy and am constantly bemoaning the loss of dynamics as a concept in todays music. Over compressed recorded music does not help, but dynamics are such a huge part of good music

  • @evensteve284

    One thing I always worked on was volume and dynamics. It's the #1 peeve of any musician outside of heavy rock/metal.

  • @evensteve284

    dynamics is lost these days in drumming. 3 things you need ; musicality, chops, and dynamics. The rest is experience and stamina which will come naturally...lots of amateurs posting vids here will never get it

  • @evensteve284 ya, also i think Elvin entire approach to playing the drums was to see each bit of it as one whole instrument (original 4 his time). Btw, I wouldn't be surprised if u get looks of contempt by asking people to "play the song and not just your instrument" because that does sound a bit douchey. Nothing against what you said but you know what i mean right? Ur right, you do want the right dynamics 4 a song, but different songs r different and dont always need you to sit under it.

  • @cragnog Thanks for your input, but I’m sticking w/ what I said: There’s nothing “douchey” about “playing the song, & not just your instrument.” U don't have 2 ALWAYS get under what is going on. If YOU”RE what happens 2 B what’s going on at that moment, then people should be getting under YOU! I almost never hear people playing TOGETHER anymore. It’s almost always a bunch of players (musicians?) all playing as loud as they can. It’s MORE ME all the time, & the hell w/ the song. Cheers

  • @evensteve284 You are so right...even when ppl agree to jus jam it always ends with everybody talking over each other...believe it or not this happens in gospel music today too...anyway this is an awesome vid...I challenge anyone that plays to giv it a try...I got my first sticks at the age of 2 and I still cant play like elvin jones!!

  • holy shit.

  • how do u do that tom rhythm at 2:21

  • I think it's 8th notes with flams for accents, but I'm not sure.

  • Beyond Respect. When we are being judged by a superior alien race and they are determining whether or not to vaporize the human race based on our failures and accomplishments, we should make sure they see this clip.

  • @mlcoo17

    It sounds like a superior alien race is speaking into my right ear when I listen to this. Amazing drumming though.

  • Holy sh*t....the tom rhythm he does starting at 2:21 just kills me. You can tell he was influenced by African drums....I absolutely love that sound.

  • fuckin sick how he just switches back to snare at 2:27

  • Agree with you!

  • hey dieyoung don't worry about it. Keep trying and you'll get it. And when you do, you'll be richer by far. There are many things in music that I don't and didn't understand. But every time my ears and mind opened up a little, many other things fell in place and I'm a child again. When you finally do get this - and you will! - you will hear music that was always there waiting for you.