Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Elvin Jones, master drummer and one of the world's greatest improvising musicians, died yesterday at the age of 76.
Peter Keepnews wrote Elvin's NY Times obit. I don't think Peter will mind if I include a brief correspondance we exchanged today. Peter married into the WFMU community via lovely Irene Trudel.
Rix: [Re; Critic John Tynan calling the Coltrane Quartet anti-jazz.] The "anti-" label in the arts is a strong indication that it's worth paying attention to something. Chilean poet Nicanor Parra even went so far as to call his own work "anti-poetry," although it is totally affirmative of the poem. Then his critics might have had to say it was anti-anti-poetry.
Peter: All true, but note that it was not Elvin per se Tynan was dismissing as "anti-jazz"; it was the Coltrane quartet and, I suspect, mostly Coltrane himself, who did have a way of dividing opinion. Even Elvin's harshest critics, I suspect, couldn't deny that he was a phenomenon.
Then again, a musician friend of mine who called to commend me on the obit said that he thought John Tynan was the stupidest jazz critic of all time - quite an impressive distinction.
Rix: Remember the late-Sixties debates about who is better: Elvin or Ginger?
Peter: I remember more than that -- There wasn't just a debate; Ginger Baker actually challenged Elvin Jones to a drum battle, and it actually happened, and some people actually claimed it was a "draw." Yeah, right.
Also, Elvin's one and only movie appearance (not counting
documentaries) was as the bad guy in a very strange (and, as I
recall, very silly) hippie western called "Zachariah." Supposedly he was a last-minute replacement for the performer originally cast in the role: Ginger Baker.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Peter Keepnews wrote Elvin's NY Times obit. I don't think Peter will mind if I include a brief correspondance we exchanged today. Peter married into the WFMU community via lovely Irene Trudel.
Rix: [Re; Critic John Tynan calling the Coltrane Quartet anti-jazz.] The "anti-" label in the arts is a strong indication that it's worth paying attention to something. Chilean poet Nicanor Parra even went so far as to call his own work "anti-poetry," although it is totally affirmative of the poem. Then his critics might have had to say it was anti-anti-poetry.
Peter: All true, but note that it was not Elvin per se Tynan was dismissing as "anti-jazz"; it was the Coltrane quartet and, I suspect, mostly Coltrane himself, who did have a way of dividing opinion. Even Elvin's harshest critics, I suspect, couldn't deny that he was a phenomenon.
Then again, a musician friend of mine who called to commend me on the obit said that he thought John Tynan was the stupidest jazz critic of all time - quite an impressive distinction.
Rix: Remember the late-Sixties debates about who is better: Elvin or Ginger?
Peter: I remember more than that -- There wasn't just a debate; Ginger Baker actually challenged Elvin Jones to a drum battle, and it actually happened, and some people actually claimed it was a "draw." Yeah, right.
Also, Elvin's one and only movie appearance (not counting
documentaries) was as the bad guy in a very strange (and, as I
recall, very silly) hippie western called "Zachariah." Supposedly he was a last-minute replacement for the performer originally cast in the role: Ginger Baker.
Add YOUR comments here
