ELVIN JONES

Elvin Jones died last month.

I saw a 72 year-old Jones in concert at Yale in 1999 (link through picture). He had an odd stage presence. When he was on mike, his language was nearly unintelligible; he struck me as almost too old and worn-out to speak. His playing, though, was unbelievably vigorous and beautiful. Josh of Oxblog and NYT Book Review fame was there, too, and, at the end of the concert, he had the same look of stunned exuberance as I suspect I did.

MORE: Josh has more, here. I had forgotten the exchange between Jones and Willie Ruff.