A Different Drummer

The best thing in this digital era is that you can search Youtube for almost anything. I search for documentaries most of my time, and I’m so happy they are out there, on the reach of my hand. In the era of television, we were doomed to depend on the broadcasting executives on what we could watch at a given time. Not that there wasn’t any good stuff, it’s just that you couldn’t google them. Well, thanks to the internet, we are all good now.

The latest film I watched on my greatest satisfaction was “Different Drummer: Elvin Jones,” released in 1970. It was recorded by film producer and director Ed Gray, who left us a beautiful and unique insight into Elvin Jones’ personality, his passion and modesty at the same time, his devotion to music and to his fellow musicians, as well a brief history of his early life, family and other personal issues, that have defined him as a drummer and as a human being.

Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He was best known as the drummer in the legendary quartet led by John Coltrane, with whom he recorded many of Coltrane’s seminal recordings, such as “A Love Supreme,” Crescent,” “Meditations” etc. He has been a part of numerous releases by other famous jazz musicians, such as Charles Mingus, Teddy Charles, Bud Powell and Miles Davis. Elvin Jones was one of the most influential drummers in modern jazz music,