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NEW YORK (AP) - Elvin Ray Jones, a renowned jazz drummer and
member of John Coltrane's quartet who also played alongside
Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, died
Tuesday. He was 76.
Jones died of heart failure in an Englewood, N.J., hospital,
said his wife of 38 years, Keiko Jones.
Jones, called by Life magazine "the world's greatest
rhythmic drummer," was born in Pontiac, Mich., one of 10
children. He had two musician brothers: Hank, a jazz
pianist, and Thad, a trumpet and flugelhorn player.
Jones entered the Detroit jazz scene in the late 1940s after
touring as a stagehand with the Army Special Services show
Operation Happiness.
After a brief gig at the Detroit club Grand River Street, he
went to work at another club, backing up such jazz greats as
Parker, Davis and Wardell Grey.
Jones came to New York in 1955, joining Charlie Mingus' band
and making a record called "J is Jazz." In 1960, he became a
member of John Coltrane's quartet.
Jones, with his rhythmic, innovative style, became one of
jazz's most famous drummers under Coltrane. He can be heard
on Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and "Coltrane Live at the
Village Vanguard."
After leaving the Coltrane quartet, Jones briefly played
with Duke Ellington and formed the Elvin Jones' Jazz
Machine. He put out several solo albums and continued to
tour, including last month in Oakland, CA, Keiko Jones
said.
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