Groove o' the day: Elvin Jones Latin

We want to get a sense of the texture of this groove, and just writing out one time through of it would be misleading, so here's the whole intro from I Wish You Love, from Grant Green's Street of Dreams album, on Blue Note. Elvin Jones is the drummer.

There was an Afro-Cuban style somewhere in this groove's ancestry, but now it's just Elvin Jones Latin Jazz. He puts a little bit of a swing feel on it, and plays it very loose— not all of the notes written as unisons land exactly together. Listen, and try to cop the feel. Elvin tends to lean on the &s a little bit, or a lot, throughout his playing. Here he plays the bass drum strongly and the floor tom lightly.

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Audio after the break: 

When I try to watch the video, I get a denial message, so you'll have to watch it on the YouTube site. Or you can just buy the record— that's what I would do.

pdxdrummer.com_transcription_elvin-jones_i-wish-you-love.pdf