How Did Elayne Jones Die? Elayne Jones Cause Of Death, Pioneering Percussionist

Elayne Jones, a timpanist who reportedly became the first Black principal player in a significant American orchestra when she joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1972, died on Saturday at her home in Walnut Creek, California.

Two years after being denied tenure, she launched a lawsuit alleging racial and sexual discrimination. She was 94.

Dementia, according to Cheryl Stanley, her daughter, was the cause.

In addition to being one of the few female orchestral percussionists of her era, the charismatic, Juilliard-trained Ms. Jones also inspired a generation of Black artists to challenge the endemic and enduring racism of the classical music sector. Her hiring in San Francisco, under Seiji Ozawa, the group’s stylish music director, “projected a forward-looking perspective.”

Ms. Jones was an instant hit in San Francisco and was admired for her lyricism and grace. Heuwell Tircuit, a critic for The San Francisco Chronicle, praised her first performance, calling it “her playing is so ludicrous in quality, one gets the titters just thinking about it.” Her performance in a fairly uncomplicated scene from “Norma” at the San Francisco Opera, according to Arthur Bloomfield of The San Francisco Examiner, was “so polished and smooth I just about fell out of my seat.”

Ms. Jones, who was once referred to in a headline as “the groovy tympanist,” saw the San Francisco auditions as her final opportunity to land a permanent position. She had worked for two decades to break down the color line as a musician, but had been unsuccessful.

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