Elvin Jones

Music is a way of life, it's everything. I play drums and that's what I believe I was born to do.

— Elvin Jones

The greatest contribution jazz has made in music has been to replace the role of the conductor with a member of the…

— Elvin Jones

It's the honesty you apply to your playing that makes music enjoyable. The style of the music has little to do with…

— Elvin Jones

To me John Coltrane was like an angel on earth. He struck me that deeply.

— Elvin Jones

If there's any such thing as a perfect man, I think John Coltrane was one. And I think that kind of perfection…

— Elvin Jones

That's what the drummer is supposed to do. Keep the time. If you can do something else besides that, fine. But the…

— Elvin Jones

I feel very, very gratified when people are complimentary to what I have done or appreciated it with sincerity... It makes me…

— Elvin Jones

I can see forms and shapes in my mind when I solo, just as a painter can see forms and shapes when…

— Elvin Jones

You should get the feeling you should move. That's what is meant when people say the music moves me.

— Elvin Jones