Jones’n

Fallen drummer Elvin Jones’ resume boasts of his presence on John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Live At The Village Vanguard, as well as work with Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor and a plethora of jazz luminaries. His unorthodox, rhythmic style earned accolades among his peers and the media; and even Life Magazine once noted Jones as “the world’s greatest rhythmic drummer.” After his death from a heart failure on May 18, 2004, his legacy became the stuff of legend. It would be only natural for young jazz enthusiasts to commemorate Jones’ influence with a live tribute. For a free-form jazz/noise/punk experimental outfit to pay homage to Jones sounds a bit peculiar. But a tribute to Jones is exactly what local improv provocateurs Zandosis have put together.

Made up of percussionist Stewart Voegtlin, bassist/pianist Tony Gordon and vocalist/saxophone player Marshall Avett, Zandosis is an outfit of many distorted faces. Having burned through high-energy blasts of everything from all-acoustic sets to all-electronic sets, guided by an overwhelming sense of confrontational and politically charged disenchantment, Zandosis is akin to anything but smooth and organically minded jazz drumming. Nevertheless, Jones will be the subject for an evening of Zandosis’ twisted percussive interpretations.

“It all boils down to an opportunity for me to play drums,” explains Avett. “We don’t like to get stuck in a rut and this will be a chance for us to do something different. It’s a chance for us to raise a ruckus and invoke the spirit of Mr. Jones, even though I don’t think it will sound a whole lot like Elvin Jones.”

Zandosis plays Eyedrum Fri., Aug. 20, 9 p.m. $4.