Elvin Jones: Volcanic Time

The Drumming Innovations, Coltrane Years, and Timeless Techniques

De: Calder M. Bristowe

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Elvin Jones transformed modern jazz drumming. From his beginnings in Pontiac and Detroit’s demanding club circuit to his groundbreaking decade with John Coltrane, Jones developed a triplet-driven engine, dark cymbal language, and dynamic arc control that reshaped how drummers keep time, interact, and lead from the kit.

Elvin Jones: Volcanic Time is the definitive, musician-grade biography for serious drummers, producers, and fans. Drawing from verified session records, interviews, and performance analysis, it follows Jones’s career step-by-step — the Army bands that sharpened his reading, the New York sessions that honed his studio discipline, the Coltrane quartet years that pushed tempo, density, and endurance to the limit, and the leader years where he codified his method for the next generation.

The book details the mechanics of his rolling triplet feel, feathered bass drum pulse, ride cymbal microtiming, and open-tuned kit design. It explains his choices in cymbals, heads, and setups, and how these supported his signature sound. Studio insights from Van Gelder’s room, live breakdowns of My Favorite Things, Chasin’ the Trane, and A Love Supreme, and precise tempo and sticking analyses give readers tools to apply directly on their own kit.

Jones’s influence radiates through Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Brian Blade, and countless others. By tracing this lineage, the book shows how his core principles adapt across styles while staying rooted in a deep quarter-note pulse.

Whether you’re refining your ride pattern placement, mastering long dynamic arcs, or designing a set for maximum musical breath, Elvin Jones: Volcanic Time delivers both the history and the method. This is not hero worship — it is a clear, uncompromising guide to one of the most durable drumming systems in modern music.