Mr Jones

Elvin Jones Bluenote

This album, released in 1973 but available here now in some shops at an import, it a very solid and competent set by drummer Elvin Jones, even if it is not exceptionally exciting or mind-shattering. Stylistically it could be describes as mainstream cool jazz, immediately derived from the kite fifties and early sixties work of John Coltrane and Miles Davit, but showing the consistently high standards of musicianship which Jones has achieved since he left the Coltrane groups and began leading groups of his own.

Side one opens with One's Native Place, a Jones original, which has a short introduction with drums and piano, moving into a slow theme with flute and soprano tax and a lot of drums filling the gaps. Another short theme it played with the tempo doubled, pushing Dave Liebman off into a swirling solo on soprano. It is not an outstanding track, the drums being the strongest element. Both themes are restated and we go out with the drums. Following is Gee-Gee, written and arranged by Gene Perla, Jones' bassist. This is a low key tune featuring Jones on brushes and Thad Jones (no relation) on a beautiful flugelhorn. He states the theme with the tenor and baritone saxes merely breathing behind him, before launching into a superb solo, sympathetically backed by the piano work of Jan Hammer. Hammer then plays his own solo starting on fast runs, moving into fragmented melodic phrases, sounding like a less facile McCoy Tyner. This tune sounds very much like early Miles in its theme and structure, except the flugelhorn sound replaces the trumpet. Mr Jones, the last track on this this tide, is basically a blues riff. It has a fairly typical chorus, but the solo work of George Coleman on tenor saxophone is excellent.

Coleman has played with Miles Davis in the mid-sixties, and currently heads his own groups in USA and around Europe. His playing has been described in 'Jazz Journal' as "imaginative, and he reconstructs theme statements with almost nonchalant ease. It is perhaps the surprising melodic turns taken by his solos that are his most important skills. "Pepper Adams immediately follows on baritone sax. He too is in good form, even if he is little lacking in emotion. The baritone is not commonly heard soloing these days, so it is good to hear that rough edged husky sound up front again.

On side two What's Up — That's It, another Gene Perla chart, is perhaps the least memorable performance on the record. The theme has a Latin-American feel; a repetitive vamo played on piano with a half speed horn chorus over the top. The solo work of Jan Hammer, Dave Liebman and Steve Grossman is good, but the extra percussion instruments used serve more to distract than to complement.

Soultrane, written by the most influential bebop composer and arranger of the forties — Tadd Dameron — is the highpoint of the whole recording. Dedicated to John Coltrane, it is a slow ballad played throughout by Dave Liebman on tenor, who couldn't have sounded more like the early Coltrane if he had tried. The melody it beautiful and Liebman's subsequent interpretation in his extensive improvisation is perfectly measured, balanced, and executed. Jones' brushwork and Perl's base both perform an ideal accompaniment. Even though it is to obviously derived from Coltrane's style, it it in itself a beautiful performance. The last track, New Breed, a Liebman composition, is solid and practically faultless. The horns are pleasant and Perls's solo contribution on bass is extremely well conceived.

On the whole it is a very good mainstream set from one of the most powerful and tasteful drummers around. It is definitely worth listening to, even if the form of the music it not particularly adventurous.

Tim Nees