The wake for jazz-giant Elvin Jones will be held this Monday at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in New York, New York. One of the jazz era’s most important players, Jones is best known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet, with whom he toured from 1960-1965. Though Mondays wake is a private event, a public memorial service will be announced at a later date.
Jones, who succumbed to heart failure in Englewood, NJ on May 18, also contributed to recordings by Bud Powell, J.J. Johnson, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, among many others. Jones brothers Hank and Thad were also well known members of the Jazz community. In recent years, Jones led the Jazz Machine, a collective that kept the 78 year old veteran active until shortly before his death. A testament to Jones vitality and spiritis that until a few weeks away, he performed while assisted by an oxygen machine.
Enhancing the drums voice within a group setting, Jones revolutionized not only jazz drumming, but the entire role of the drummer in jazz and rock. Jones has influenced a generation of musicians, many of whom find their home in the improvisational music community.
Derek Trucks, a long timebooster, longed to bring him into a studio session. The Jammysalso actively courted Jones to collaborate with bassists Victor Wooten and Oteil Burbridge at the 2004award ceremony until acommitment to his Jazz Machine ultimately precluded his involvement.