Elvin Jones Triplets

[Stumprrp]

G'morning all! last night i was at the friends studio again, and the madman berklee physco bassist hoped on the kit and showed something for the precussionist, the first was some crazy stuff with 2 sticks in each hand and then he was like this is how elvin jones did his triplets, it sounded like doubles instead of singles like TOM TOM BASS and going to the snare and stuff but doubled up, then he did bonzos.

but my question is my memory is terrible and im not exactly sure how the triplets went, they were great, any idea anyone?

[jareman27]

what are bonzos?

[Stumprrp]

bonzo triplets, he uses them all the time, tom tom bass over and over

[Maark]

Not to do a bonzo then and glug yourself to a bitter end... Bitter, geddit? Haw haw.

[Stumprrp]

huh? lol

[laserbeam]

Was the Elvin thing a Right/Left/Left? You can do some cool stuff with RLL RLL RLL RLR LRR LRR LRR L. Another Elvin thing is that when he played jazz (which he did mostly I reckon) he accented the 'skip' note rather than the quarter notes.

Hope this helps.

[Stumprrp]

possibly, ill have to fool with it or just drop him an email, i think it was just a standard triplet type bonham fill with doubles instead of singles

[Spaceman Spiff]

I'm not sure what your friend had in mind, but Elvin often played what some of us now call Bonham triplets: RLF RLF RLF RLF. You can hear that lick in "The Drum Thing." From your description it sounds like your friend suggests playing doubles where there are singles in this lick. That's certainly a great variation on that pattern.

It's kind of funny to hear someone say "This is how Elvin Jones played triplets..." Over the course of his lifetime I am sure that Elvin Jones played several billion variations on triplet-based patterns. It's a bit simplistic to distill an entire career of improvisational genius into one interpretation of one specific pattern. I'm glad that your friend has identified one lick that Elvin played. Now there are only 999,999,999 Elvin Jones licks left for him to learn.

PS If you really want to know how Elvin Jones played triplets go to the source! Check out:

Wayne Shorter: "Speak No Evil"
John Coltrane: "A Love Supreme" and "Ballads"
for starters.

[Stumprrp]

thanks, but this friend probley knows all of the licks, lol, hes been drumming for like 40 years and is an animal! i think that is the right way i tried and and its good

[DrummerMom4571]

Is this close? click on the link and you can hear this played.

Solo analisys Elvin Jones

[Stumprrp]

thanks for the link, thats not exactly it but those are some cool licks