Elvin Jones
Drums Solo on
A Love Supreme, Part 3: Pursuance

About

Elvin Jones opens "Pursuance" with an extended drum solo, one of the most celebrated drum features in jazz history and the gateway to the most dynamically intense movement of A Love Supreme. His playing at approximately 300 BPM establishes the movement's ferocious energy from the first stroke, his polyrhythmic inventiveness and explosive dynamics setting the stage for the solos that follow. As the first soloist on the suite's third movement, Jones's opening statement has become iconic in its own right, its combination of power and musicality demonstrating why he is regarded as one of the greatest drummers in the history of the music.

Elvin Jones was 36 to 37 years old at the time.