Jazz Review : Jones’ Jazz Machine Enlivens Catalina

There’s something almost intoxicating about the dynamic modern music Elvin Jones offers. The drummer’s group Jazz Machine can thoroughly uplift the spirit.

Beginning a six-night engagement Tuesday at the Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood, the ever-youthful, 64-year-old trapsman once again demonstrated that the drum set is no mere noisemaker but indeed a musical vehicle capable of a myriad of sounds and colors.

As he has for decades, Jones, whose association with John Coltrane from 1960 to 1965 thrust him into international jazz prominence, centered his playing around a mellifluous assemblage of timbres and shadings--his drums emitting resonant, non-abrasive tones.

Jones’s responsive interaction with his rhythm section partners, bassist Chip Jackson and pianist Willie Pickens, and their empathetic styles created a resilient foundation for the front line soloists.

No matter how uproarious the music became, it never unraveled, due primarily to this visceral platform. And things did get wild, like when tenorman Sonny Fortune’s volatile upper-range shrieks on Coltrane’s “Blues Minor” recalled a rogue elephant’s screaming bray.