Alphonse Mouzon

Alphonse Mouzon was an American R&B, jazz and jazz fusion drummer, an actor and a composer. His reach extends beyond jazz fusion however, as evidenced by Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant stating that Mouzon was a major influence on the legendary rock band. Mouzon was born in 1948 as the Golden Age of bebop was in full flow - he later went on to perform and record with trumpeter Miles Davis. He began his own performing career in 1968, as Davis and his fellow jazz innovators were developing jazz fusion, a mix of jazz improvisation and jazz instrumentation and arrangement. Mouzon played with a prime force in jazz fusion in the band Weather Report before going solo in 1972. This enabled him to develop his approach by playing with a range of musicians including guitarists Eric Clapton, Lee Ritenour and producer Gil Evans. Mouzon died in Los Angeles on Christmas Day 2016 three months after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.