Rashied Ali
Encyclopedia
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz
and avant-garde
jazz drummer
best known for playing with John Coltrane
in the last years of Coltrane's life.
, Pennsylvania
; his family was musical: his mother had sung with Jimmie Lunceford
. His brother, Muhammad Ali
, is also a drummer, who played with Albert Ayler
, among others. Ali, along with his father and brother, converted to Islam.
Ali moved to New York in 1963 and worked in groups with Bill Dixon
and Paul Bley
. He has also recorded or performed with Pharoah Sanders
, Alice Coltrane
, Arthur Rhames
, James Blood Ulmer and many others. In addition, Ali was scheduled to be the second drummer, alongside Elvin Jones
, on John Coltrane
's landmark free jazz
album Ascension, but he dropped out just before the recording was to take place. Coltrane did not replace him, and settled for one drummer. Ali began to record with Coltrane from Meditations
in November 1965 onwards.
Among his credits are the last recorded work of John Coltrane's life (The Olatunji Concert) and Interstellar Space
, an album of duets with Coltrane recorded earlier in 1967. Ali "became important in stimulating the most avant-garde kinds of jazz activities". During the early 1970s, he ran an influential loft club in New York, called Ali's Alley. Ali also briefly formed a non-jazz project called Purple Trap with Japanese experimental guitarist Keiji Haino
and jazz-fusion bassist Bill Laswell
. Their double-CD album, Decided...Already the Motionless Heart of Tranquility, Tangling the Prayer Called "I", was released on John Zorn
's Tzadik Records
label in March 1999.
In the 1980s, he was member of Phalanx
, a group with guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer
, tenor saxophonist George Adams
, and bassist Sirone
.
Though most known for his work in the jazz idiom, Rashied Ali also made his contributions to other experimental art forms including multi-media performances with The Gift of Eagle Orchestra and Cosmic Legends. Performances such as Devachan and the Monads, Dwarf of Oblivion, which took place at the Kitchen Center for Performance Art, and a special tribute to John Cage in Central Park, have taken performance art to new levels with the addition of fully improvised large scale performance pieces. Other artists of the orchestra and Cosmic Legends have included Hayes Greenfield (sax), Perry Robinson (clarinet), Wayne Lopes (guitar), Dave Douglas (trumpet), Gloria Tropp (vocals), director/pianist Sylvie Degiez along with Poets and actors, Ira Cohen
, Taylor Mead
, Judith Malina
(Living Theater). More recently, Ali has played with Sonny Fortune
.
In the last years of his life, Rashied Ali led his own eponymous quintet. A double CD entitled Judgment Day was recorded in February 2005 and features Jumaane Smith on trumpet, Lawrence Clark on tenor sax, Greg Murphy on piano and Joris Teepe on bass. This album was recorded at Ali's own Survival Studio, which has been in existence since the 1970s. In addition to his performance activities Ali served as mentor to numerous young drummers including Matt Smith.
In 2007, Ali recorded "Going to the Ritual" in duo with bassist/violinist Henry Grimes
(Porter Records #PRCD-4005), with a second duo recording in post-production at the time of Ali's death. Ali and Grimes also played five duo concerts together between 2007 and 2009, and a sixth concert in June 2007 with pianist Marilyn Crispell
. Ali is the featured drummer on Azar Lawrence's album Mystic Journey, recorded in April 2009 and released in May 2010.
Rashied Ali died at age 76 in a Manhattan
, New York City hospital after suffering a heart attack. He is survived by wife Patricia and three children.
With Peter Brötzmann
With Marion Brown
With Charles Gayle
With David Murray
With Phalanx
With Alice Coltrane
With Alan Shorter
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
and avant-garde
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
jazz drummer
Jazz drumming
Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz-rock fusion and 1980s-era latin jazz...
best known for playing with John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
in the last years of Coltrane's life.
Biography
Ali/Patterson was born and grew up in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
; his family was musical: his mother had sung with Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
. His brother, Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (drummer)
Muhammad Ali is a free jazz drummer.Ali was born and grew up in Philadelphia. He, along with his father and brothers, converted to Islam. He recorded with Albert Ayler in 1969 on the sessions released as Music is the Healing Force of the Universe and The Last Album. He moved to Europe in 1969...
, is also a drummer, who played with Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
, among others. Ali, along with his father and brother, converted to Islam.
Ali moved to New York in 1963 and worked in groups with Bill Dixon
Bill Dixon
Bill Dixon was an American musician, composer, visual artist, and educator. Dixon was one of the seminal figures in the free jazz movement. He played the trumpet, flugelhorn, and piano, often using electronic delay and reverberation as part of his trumpet playing.-Biography:Dixon hailed from...
and Paul Bley
Paul Bley
Paul Bley, CM is a pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing.-Biography:...
. He has also recorded or performed with Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane, née McLeod was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.-Biography:...
, Arthur Rhames
Arthur Rhames
Arthur Rhames was a guitarist, tenor saxophonist, pianist and melodica stylist, Krishna devotee, and a legend of New York City avant-garde jazz.-Biography:...
, James Blood Ulmer and many others. In addition, Ali was scheduled to be the second drummer, alongside Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
, on John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
's landmark free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
album Ascension, but he dropped out just before the recording was to take place. Coltrane did not replace him, and settled for one drummer. Ali began to record with Coltrane from Meditations
Meditations (album)
Meditations is a 1965 album by John Coltrane. It features Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as soloists, both playing tenor saxophones. Much of the recording is fairly avant-garde, featuring extensive passages in free rhythm and extended saxophone techniques such as honked and overblown notes, as well...
in November 1965 onwards.
Among his credits are the last recorded work of John Coltrane's life (The Olatunji Concert) and Interstellar Space
Interstellar Space
Interstellar Space was one of the final studio albums recorded by the saxophonist John Coltrane before his death in 1967, originally-released posthumously by Impulse! Records on LP in 1974.-Composition:...
, an album of duets with Coltrane recorded earlier in 1967. Ali "became important in stimulating the most avant-garde kinds of jazz activities". During the early 1970s, he ran an influential loft club in New York, called Ali's Alley. Ali also briefly formed a non-jazz project called Purple Trap with Japanese experimental guitarist Keiji Haino
Keiji Haino
Keiji Haino born May 3, 1952 in Chiba, Japan, and currently residing in Tokyo, is a Japanese musician whose work has included rock, free improvisation, noise, singer-songwriter, solo percussion, psychedelic, minimalism and drone styles...
and jazz-fusion bassist Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
. Their double-CD album, Decided...Already the Motionless Heart of Tranquility, Tangling the Prayer Called "I", was released on John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
's Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
label in March 1999.
In the 1980s, he was member of Phalanx
Phalanx (band)
Phalanx was a jazz quartet featuring guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer, drummer Rashied Ali, tenor saxophonist George Adams, and bassist Sirone. They released three albums in the 1980s, two for DIW Records....
, a group with guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer
James Ulmer
James "Blood" Ulmer is an American jazz and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer's distinctive guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging." His singing has been called "raggedly soulful."-Biography:...
, tenor saxophonist George Adams
George Adams (musician)
George Rufus Adams was an American jazz musician who played tenor saxophone, flute and bass clarinet. He is best known for his work with Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Roy Haynes and in the quartet he co-led with pianist Don Pullen, featuring bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Dannie Richmond...
, and bassist Sirone
Sirone (musician)
Norris Jones, better known as Sirone was an American jazz bassist and composer.-Biography:Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Sirone worked in Atlanta late in the 1950s and early in the 1960s with "The Group" alongside George Adams; he also recorded with R&B musicians such as Sam Cooke and Smokey Robinson...
.
Though most known for his work in the jazz idiom, Rashied Ali also made his contributions to other experimental art forms including multi-media performances with The Gift of Eagle Orchestra and Cosmic Legends. Performances such as Devachan and the Monads, Dwarf of Oblivion, which took place at the Kitchen Center for Performance Art, and a special tribute to John Cage in Central Park, have taken performance art to new levels with the addition of fully improvised large scale performance pieces. Other artists of the orchestra and Cosmic Legends have included Hayes Greenfield (sax), Perry Robinson (clarinet), Wayne Lopes (guitar), Dave Douglas (trumpet), Gloria Tropp (vocals), director/pianist Sylvie Degiez along with Poets and actors, Ira Cohen
Ira Cohen
Ira Cohen was an American poet, publisher, photographer and filmmaker.Cohen lived in Morocco and in New York City in the 1960s, he was in Kathmandu in the 1970s and traveled the world in the 1980s, before returning to New York, where he spent the rest of his life...
, Taylor Mead
Taylor Mead
Taylor Mead is an American writer, actor, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained.....
, Judith Malina
Judith Malina
Judith Malina is an American theater and film actress, writer, and director, who was one of the founders of The Living Theatre.-Early life:...
(Living Theater). More recently, Ali has played with Sonny Fortune
Sonny Fortune
Sonny Fortune is an American jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He also plays soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone and clarinet.-Biography:...
.
In the last years of his life, Rashied Ali led his own eponymous quintet. A double CD entitled Judgment Day was recorded in February 2005 and features Jumaane Smith on trumpet, Lawrence Clark on tenor sax, Greg Murphy on piano and Joris Teepe on bass. This album was recorded at Ali's own Survival Studio, which has been in existence since the 1970s. In addition to his performance activities Ali served as mentor to numerous young drummers including Matt Smith.
In 2007, Ali recorded "Going to the Ritual" in duo with bassist/violinist Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes is a jazz double bassist, violinist, and poet.After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music scene by 1970...
(Porter Records #PRCD-4005), with a second duo recording in post-production at the time of Ali's death. Ali and Grimes also played five duo concerts together between 2007 and 2009, and a sixth concert in June 2007 with pianist Marilyn Crispell
Marilyn Crispell
Marilyn Crispell is an American jazz pianist and composer.-Biography:Crispell studied classical piano and composition at the New England Conservatory of Music. She has been a resident of Woodstock, NY since 1977 when she came to study and teach at Karl Berger's Creative Music Studio...
. Ali is the featured drummer on Azar Lawrence's album Mystic Journey, recorded in April 2009 and released in May 2010.
Rashied Ali died at age 76 in a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City hospital after suffering a heart attack. He is survived by wife Patricia and three children.
As leader
- 1971 - New Directions In Modern Music (Survival Records, reissued by Knit Classics) with Carlos WardCarlos WardCarlos Ward is a jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He is best known as a sideman.His first instrument was the clarinet at age 13 when he lived in Seattle, Washington...
, Fred Simmons, Stafford JamesStafford James-Biography:As a young man, Stafford James enlisted in the Air Force; after his discharge he studied at the University of Chicago with Rudolf Fahsbender. In 1969 he moved to New York City and studied under Julius Levine at the Mannes College for Music. Here he met Pharaoh Sanders, with whom he... - 1972 - Duo Exchange (Survival Records, reissued by Knit Classics) with Frank LoweFrank LoweFrank Lowe was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer.Born and brought up in Memphis, Tennessee, Lowe took up the tenor saxophone and then moved to San Francisco...
- 1973 - Swift Are The Winds Of Life (Survival Records, reissued by Knit Classics) with Leroy Jenkins
- 1973 - Rashied Ali Quintet (Survival Records, reissued by Knit Classics) with James "Blood" UlmerJames UlmerJames "Blood" Ulmer is an American jazz and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer's distinctive guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging." His singing has been called "raggedly soulful."-Biography:...
- 1974 - Moon Flight (Knitting Factory)
- 1975 - N.Y. Ain't So Bad (Survival Records, reissued by Knit Classics)
- 1989 - Rashied Ali in France (Blue Music Group)
- 1994 - Peace On Earth: The Music of John Coltrane (Knitting Factory Works) with Prima Materia and guests John ZornJohn ZornJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, Allan Chase - 1995 - Meditations (Knitting Factory Works) with Prima Materia, including Greg MurphyGreg MurphyGreg Murphy is a racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond presenting Top Gear, when it had its first international Live show at ASB Showgrounds in Auckland from February 12 - 15th 2009, and again when the show...
- 1995 - Bells (Knitting Factory Works) with Prima Materia
- 1999 - Rings of Saturn (Knitting Factory Works), duets with tenor saxophonist Louie Belogenis
- 2000 - Live At Tonic (DIW) with Wilber MorrisWilber MorrisWilber Morris was an American jazz double bass player and bandleader. He was the brother of the cornetist, composer, and conductor Butch Morris....
- 2008 - Going to the Ritual (Porter RecordsPorter RecordsPorter Records is a United States record label that specializes in jazz, hiphop, electronic, world, and experimental music. Its catalog is self-described as "music for the eclectic listener", with albums by artists Henry Grimes, Joe Chambers, Heikki Sarmanto, Chll Pll, and Mason Lindahl, among...
) with bassist Henry GrimesHenry GrimesHenry Grimes is a jazz double bassist, violinist, and poet.After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music scene by 1970... - 2009 - at the Vision Festival with Greg Tardy, James Hurt, Omer Avital. (Blue Music Group)
- 2009 - Eddie Jefferson at Ali's Alley with Eddie JeffersonEddie JeffersonEddie Jefferson was a celebrated jazz vocalist and lyricist. He is credited as an innovator of vocalese, a musical style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo. Perhaps his best-known song is "Moody's Mood for Love", though it was first recorded by King Pleasure, who cited...
(Blue Music Group) - 2009 - Configurations, the Music of John Coltrane with Prima Materia (Blue Music Group)
- 2009 - Cutt'n Korners with Greg Tardy, Antoine Drye and Abraham Burton. (Blue Music Group)
As sideman
With John ColtraneJohn Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
- MeditationsMeditations (album)Meditations is a 1965 album by John Coltrane. It features Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as soloists, both playing tenor saxophones. Much of the recording is fairly avant-garde, featuring extensive passages in free rhythm and extended saxophone techniques such as honked and overblown notes, as well...
(1965) - Live in Japan (1965) (1966)
- Live at the Village Vanguard Again!Live at the Village Vanguard Again!Live At The Village Vanguard Again! is a jazz album by saxophonist John Coltrane. Recorded in May of 1966, the album shows Coltrane playing in the free jazz style that characterized his final recordings....
(1966) - Interstellar SpaceInterstellar SpaceInterstellar Space was one of the final studio albums recorded by the saxophonist John Coltrane before his death in 1967, originally-released posthumously by Impulse! Records on LP in 1974.-Composition:...
(1967) - Stellar RegionsStellar RegionsStellar Regions is a posthumous release by John Coltrane, discovered in 1994 by the artist's wife, Alice Coltrane, who plays piano on the session...
(1967) - ExpressionExpression (album)Expression is an album by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. The title track was Coltrane's last studio recording; the rest of the album was recorded at about the same time as Interstellar Space. "To Be" features Coltrane on flute, the only recording he made on the instrument for an entire track...
(1967) - The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording (1967)
- Cosmic MusicCosmic MusicCosmic Music is a jazz album by John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane. It was originally released after John Coltrane's death. On this release, John Coltrane actually only plays on Manifestation and Reverend King...
(1968)
With Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...
- Songlines (1991)
With Marion Brown
Marion Brown
Marion Brown was a jazz alto saxophonist and ethnomusicologist. He is most well known as a member of the 1960s avant-garde jazz scene in New York City, playing alongside musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai...
- Marion Brown Quartet (1966)
- Why Not? (1967)
With Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle is a free jazz saxophonist, pianist, bass clarinetist, and percussionist.-Biography:Charles Gayle was born in Buffalo, New York. Some of Gayle's history is unclear. He was apparently homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway platforms...
- Touchin' on Trane (1991)
With David Murray
David Murray (jazz musician)
David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
- Body and SoulBody and Soul (David Murray album)Body and Soul is the sixteenth album by David Murray to be released on the Italian Black Saint label. It was released in 1993 and features performances by Murray, Sonelius Smith, Wilber Morris, Rashied Ali and Taana Running.-Reception:...
(1993)
With Phalanx
Phalanx (band)
Phalanx was a jazz quartet featuring guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer, drummer Rashied Ali, tenor saxophonist George Adams, and bassist Sirone. They released three albums in the 1980s, two for DIW Records....
- Original Phalanx (1987)
- In Touch (1988)
With Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane, née McLeod was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.-Biography:...
- A Monastic TrioA Monastic TrioA Monastic Trio is the first solo album by Alice Coltrane. Recorded in 1968 , she intended it to be a tribute to her husband, John Coltrane, who had died the year before.-Reception:...
(1968)
With Alan Shorter
Alan Shorter
Alan Shorter was a free jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, and the older brother of composer and saxophone player Wayne Shorter.-Biography:...
- Orgasm (1968)