Elvin Jones vs. Ginger Baker

[five eight]

Since all our thoughts are currently with Elvin here's a funny story.

In 1971 about the time Ginger Baker's Air Force was winding down Baker remarked to an interviewer that Elvin Jones (40 at the time) was too old to play well anymore! Elvin told another interviewer: "Baker ought to get fired into space and lose his ass." After that, during a gig at Ronnie Scott's, Elvin announced, "Baker had better put his drums where his mouth is."

And it was on!

Elvin joined Baker onstage three months later at an Air Force performance at The Lyceum in London. Ginger introduced Elvin as "a man he'd admired since he was a boy." Elvin bops onto the stage wearing a pair of pants adorned with stars all over them and takes his place behind his Gretsch four-piece.

The band starts off with a Nigerian folk song called 'Aiko Biaye Biaye.' Baker plays ponderous, primitive patterns while Elvin steams along at his side three times as fast, filling in the blanks of Ginger's rhythms with quick flurries. That goes on for 20 minutes then Air Force plays Blind Faith's 'Do What You Like' for a quarter of an hour before Ginger hands Elvin a solo. After half an hour of call-and-response pummeling the band re-enters for a big finale.

Nobody was asking "Who won?" but one industry rag quipped: "Elvin's brilliant flashes were the highlights of the evening. But how's about playing on Elvin's turf now, huh?"

I think we all know who won. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[XNavyDrummer]

Great story, thanks!

Wish I could've been there!