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MntnMan62

Forum GOD!
Two of my favourite Elvin tracks. I once shook his hand. It was like putting my hand into an industrial crusher....

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJjlCN_Z3Xg


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQgrxtEfmHQ
I also met him as well. And I do remember his handshake. Crushing. My story took place at the Village Vanguard sometime around 1980. Not sure if it was late 70's or early 80's. My friend and I went to see a show of his band there. We always would get to the shows early so we could get the best seats right in front of the drummer (any drummer - we were both drummers). So we got the table just in front of Elvin. He shows up and was good about saying hello and was introduced to his handshake. He then proceeded to take out a hammer and he hammer these two heavy metal brackets into the wood floor of the riser so that each one was in front of each of his bass drum spurs. This guy definitely played hard. During the set one of the two brackets came loose and his bass drum started creeping. We were close enough so I put my foot up and held his bass drum in place for the rest of the set. Afterwards he was so appreciative thank me profusely. Such a genuinely nice guy. And an even more amazing drummer. Awesome show.
 

les24preludes

Forum GOD!
We were close enough so I put my foot up and held his bass drum in place for the rest of the set. Afterwards he was so appreciative thank me profusely. Such a genuinely nice guy. And an even more amazing drummer. Awesome show.
Great story! But Elvin was LOUD!! If you were near enough to have your foot on his bass drum you must have had quite an earful. I never saw 'Trane live, but I often think that the balance would have been quite different onstage. They must have turned Elvin down in the mix on all the studio LPs they recorded.

I couldn't sleep much last night and around 3 I put on Coltrane's Ballads album. I was absolutely knocked out by the quality of the tone and the control he had of breathing and tuning. It was perfection. It leaves you on the floor in admiration for what he did for music.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5xxovnlKxo
 

donnie_arko

Forum GOD!
I also met him as well. And I do remember his handshake. Crushing. My story took place at the Village Vanguard sometime around 1980. Not sure if it was late 70's or early 80's. My friend and I went to see a show of his band there. We always would get to the shows early so we could get the best seats right in front of the drummer (any drummer - we were both drummers). So we got the table just in front of Elvin. He shows up and was good about saying hello and was introduced to his handshake. He then proceeded to take out a hammer and he hammer these two heavy metal brackets into the wood floor of the riser so that each one was in front of each of his bass drum spurs. This guy definitely played hard. During the set one of the two brackets came loose and his bass drum started creeping. We were close enough so I put my foot up and held his bass drum in place for the rest of the set. Afterwards he was so appreciative thank me profusely. Such a genuinely nice guy. And an even more amazing drummer. Awesome show.
Superb story. I think I'd have wept profusely if I could have seen Elvin Jones in the flesh. A musical genius.

Great story! But Elvin was LOUD!! If you were near enough to have your foot on his bass drum you must have had quite an earful. I never saw 'Trane live, but I often think that the balance would have been quite different onstage. They must have turned Elvin down in the mix on all the studio LPs they recorded.
I saw McCoy Tyner play live and I'm fairly sure he got a fair amount of volume out of the piano, and as unit 'the famous four' I imagine would have put out a considerable amount of volume collectively. In the studio however for one of the all time masters of his trade, Rudy Van Gelder it was probably business as usual in getting the mix to sound like it does.
 

les24preludes

Forum GOD!
I saw McCoy Tyner play live and I'm fairly sure he got a fair amount of volume out of the piano, and as unit 'the famous four' I imagine would have put out a considerable amount of volume collectively. In the studio however for one of the all time masters of his trade, Rudy Van Gelder it was probably business as usual in getting the mix to sound like it does.
I'm trying to think back..... I saw Elvin twice with different bands, first with a guitar and a tenor and then with two tenors. He was certainly loud, no question. But he was also exciting and totally charismatic - it was hard not to look straight at him all night. I think that dimension doesn't really come across in his studio recordings.

Same for Tony Williams who I saw twice - once with Miles and once with Lifetime (Larry Young, John McLaughlin). He had the prettiest ever bright yellow Gretsch kit and he was loud and charismatic as well.

Tony W Gretsch.jpg
 
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