Elvin Jones

Elvin Jones was a jazz drummer from Pontiac, Michigan, born in 1927 into a musical family that included his brothers Hank and Thad, both celebrated jazz musicians. He played in the post-bop tradition and built a reputation for a forceful polyrhythmic style, combining different meters across his hands and feet into a shifting, propulsive feel. He is best remembered as a member of John Coltrane's classic quartet in the early 1960s, and later led his own groups under the name the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine until his death in 2004.