Elvin.

Just that first name... still gives me a rush. I first heard Elvin Jones on the John coltrane albums that I started listening to in 1967. "Alabama", "Afro Blue"... they haunted me with his incredible rhythms and pure drumming excitement. He made me want to play jazz. He took a simple kit of four drums, a couple of cymbals and two sticks and made it the most exciting, personal thing I had ever heard. The tour de force that is "A Love Supreme" is, in my opinion, an accompanied drum and sax solo. Coltrane's masterpiece is also a powerful moment in kit drumming. Elvin is missed. His passing leaves a huge hole in the world of drums, jazz and humanity. Watch the master at work doing what he loved to do.

Here's Elvin backing Freddie Hubbard... or is Freddie backing Elvin?. I dunno, the drums are more than a beat, they are a flowing, pounding, driving part of the music.
One more; this a classic clip of Coltrane and the guys (probably one of the best quartets of all time) on Jazz Casual. Elvins multi-rhythms, tasteful beats and incredible sticking are a joy.