BST 84361

Elvin Jones - Coalition

Released - 1970

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, July 17, 1970
George Coleman, tenor sax; Frank Foster, tenor sax, contra-alto clarinet; Wilbur Little, bass; Elvin Jones, drums; Candido, congas, tambourine.

6675 Simone
6673 5/4 Thing
6674 Ural Stradania
6672 Yesterdays
6671 Shinjitu

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Shinjitu	Elvin Jones	July 17 1970
Yesterdays	Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern	July 17 1970
Side Two
5/4 Thing	George Coleman	July 17 1970
Ural Stradania	Frank Foster	July 17 1970
Simone	Frank Foster	July 17 1970

Liner Notes

The tidal wave that is Elvin Ray Jones has been operating on its own momentum since the summer of 1967, when his singular rhythmic impetus, previously a pivotal element in groups led by others, now became the centrifugal strength of his own combo.

Few men, and certainly hardly any drummers, have come to leadership with better credentials. The years in Detroit with Billy Mitchell and brother Thad were followed by almost a decade in and around New York City with Bud Powell and Charles Mingus, the Pepper Adams-Donald Byrd Quintet, and groups led by such swing era veterans as Tyree Glenn and Harry Sweets Edison.

All these dues readied him for the climactic experience, the five and a half years with Coltrane. Jones is the type of musician who draws on every contingency, every musical adventure, as a new challenge, enabling him to add to his stockpile of qualifications. In this album you will hear not just the definitive drummer of the 1960s, not only the most complex experimenter in the field of contemporary percussion, but someone who knows the art of mixing idioms, defining and refining concepts, building bridges for others to cross with safety and assurance.

The original Elvin Jones Trio, with Wilbur Little and Joe Farrell, stayed together for the best part of three years. Though there were occasional changes in the bass department, Little came back more than once and Farrell was a constant. Than, at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1970, Elvin revealed a new role; he now led a quintet, with Frank Foster and George Coleman as melodic mainstays.

On that occasion he used a pianist instead of the second drummer heard here, but the character of the group was established by the interplay between the two horns and by the excitement Elvin generated for, with and through them. The present revised instrumentation seems to be even more stimulating. Candido's and Elvin's sympathy for one another was quite apparent in the Poly-Currents album (Blue Note 4331). That was a transitional session, using a larger group, but Coleman and Little both were among those present.

The addition of Frank Foster brings back into the fold a soloist who was part of the picture in Elvin's immediate post-Trane period. "Frank worked with me for a while in 1967," he recalls, "while Joe Farrell was playing in Thad and Mel's band. Bringing him and George together makes sense, because their sounds and styles complement one another; also Frank is a very versatile musician, and I like the sound of the bass clarinet as an additional color."

This last aspect of Foster's contribution is heard in the opening track. Shiniitu was composed by Keiko Jones, who will be remembered by observant Jones-watchers as the subject of Keiko's Wedding March, composed by Elvin to commemorate their marriage; and later as composer in her own right, of Mr. Jones. The new theme has a traditionally Oriental flavor, with George and Frank in fourths.

Foster's bass clarinet reminds us not only of the rich, deep timbre this horn can bring to an improvising group, but also of the unexplored possibilities still open to it. Eric Dolphy, whose influence Frank at times reflects here, was one of the few to try it out effectively (Buddy De Franco, on a date with some of Art Blakey's men, also played bass clarinet with some success). Foster's ascent during this solo from relative simplicity into an exhilarating freedom bag illustrates the growth in his work since those half-forgotten Basie days. Elvin and Candido later engage in what might better be called a duet than a duel or battle; the merger of Afro-American and Afro-Cuban rhythmic ideations has rarely been more strikingly delineated.

Yesterdays (the Jerome Kern standard, not to be confused with the Beatles song Yesterday) moves from an unaccompanied Foster introduction into a fascinating double-exposition of the theme, with the two tenors working more or less in canon, after which Coleman takes the first blowing chorus. Wilbur Little, whom Elvin in their last album together called "one of the most improved musicians I know, continues to defy credulity in his solo, liberally sprinkled with double or triple stops.

Coleman is both composer and soloist on 5/4 Thing, a theme so well constructed that it makes that meter seem as natural as breathing. Candido, showing his ability to move with the times (or the time signatures), fits into the situation by turning this into a sort of 5/4 conga. Elvin, particularly in a solo sequence toward the end, makes his one-to-a-generation manual and pedal dexterity seem deceptively easy; I am reminded again of my early description of his essence as a rhythmic "circle of sound."

Ural Stradania, which sounds as exotically Russian as the title Frank Foster gave it, puts the drummers in the forefront, both before and after a two-horn passage in which naked fifths land the theme a starkly brittle character. The two tenor soloists are well showcased during this long workout: Foster with his more direct lineage back to Lester Young, Coleman bending into the future, quite literally, with oblique notes and near-split tones.

Foster, who has been respected as an originator of attractive melodies since his Basie days, has contributed a most endearing theme in the waltz Simone, which he plays first before Coleman joins in. Little's resilient sound and little beat add to the lilting quality of this track's melodic passages, as well as to the encounter behMeen Elvin and Candido later on. The latter sequence achieves a somberly cohesive three-man blend of the sound spectrum's lower frequencies. Though Coalition is a fitting title for the album ("the union of things separate into a single body or group," says Webster's), certainly Coordination would have been no less appropriate.

In an interview a few years ago with Ira Gitler, Elvin commented that "Any instrumentalist should have muscular coordination, so that when your mind gives the signals to your limbs—your hands, your feet—your body is in condition to respond to the thoughts immediately and apply them as they come. Good physical condition is really necessary."

This succinct summation of the effort that goes into every Elvin Jones performance points up what should be obvious to certain naive younger fans who have had the audacity to talk of some rock neophytes as even remotely comparable with Jones: it takes a great deal more than good intentions, fast movements and continuously high volume level to bring to the profession of drumming what Elvin Jones offers today. Now at a high point of creativity and of the technical capacities necessary for attaining this objective, his art represents the accumulation of learning, studying, listening, participating, constantly striving for new goals—all of which has been building up since before many of today's bubbledrummers were born. To the latter I have two words of advice: Dig Elvin!

— LEONARD FEATHER
KBCA Los Angeles

Notes for the Blue Note 75th Anniversary Edition[edit]

After leading his loose, free-flowing trio with Joe Farrell and Jimmy Garrison, Elvin shifted his group to larger instrumentation in 1969, adding George Coleman and sometimes a third horn and Candido Camero's congas. Wilbur Little was now the bassist. "Coalition" was the third and last session by this band. Frank Foster had taken Joe Farrell's place though Farrell would soon return to the band.

The expanded group necessitated that the music be more structure than the trio's music had been. And Candido's presence adds an Afro-Cuban feel, sometimes stated and sometimes implied, to the band. Check out how smooth and flowing Candido and Elvin are in 5/4 time on George Coleman's "5/4 Thing".

"Coalition" offers a wonderful variety of material and Foster and Coleman blend beautifully. Foster plays the lovely sounding alto clarinet on "Shinjitu" but the rest of the album features the sound of two tenor saxes. Foster contributes the Russian-influenced "Ural Stradania" and a very hip blues waltz "Simone".

The character of Elvin's music would change again in 1971 with the absence of additional percussion and a new bassist. But the army of tenor players, usually three, would remain essential to Elvin's sound.

Michael Cuscuna