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Don Alias
Charles "Don" Alias (ah-LIE-ahs; December 25, 1939 – March 28, 2006) was an American jazz percussionist.
Alias was best known for playing congas and other hand drums. He was also a capable drum kit performer. He played drums on the song "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" from trumpeter Miles Davis's album Bitches Brew (1969), when neither Lenny White nor Jack DeJohnette was able to play the marching band-inspired rhythm requested by Davis. He also played drums and percussion on the Joni Mitchell live album Shadows and Light.
Alias performed on hundreds of recordings and was best known for his associations with Miles Davis and saxophonist David Sanborn. He also performed and recorded with artists such as Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, the Brecker Brothers, Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny, Nina Simone, and many others.
Alias was born in New York City on December 25, 1939. He studied piano and guitar as a boy but turned to percussion, learning from the rhythms he learned on New York's streets and the one-on-one lessons with the percussionist Mongo Santamaria. At 16 years old, he was enrolled as a conga player for the Eartha Kitt Dance Foundation, when he landed his first professional gig playing with Dizzy Gillespie at the Newport Jazz Festival.
He had a degree in biology, studying at Gannon College and the Carnegie Institute for Biochemistry in Boston. During his time in Boston, he played in jazz night clubs, where he met students from the Berklee College of Music, which aided his entry into the music industry.
While at school in Boston, Alias met bassist Gene Perla, with whom he formed the jazz trio, Stone Alliance, in 1964. The group also included saxophonist Steve Grossman, mainly centering on jazz, Afro-Cuban, rock, and pop music. In 1976, the trio began a 15-day tour in Chile, launched through the US State Department Jazz Diplomacy program. The initial leg, with 10 locations in Chile, extended into a 6-month tour with stops in Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
The group totaled two South American tours, four European tours, and two Canada tours. The band recorded four studio albums between 1976 and 1980, with live albums from Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Berlin, and Bremen. After a 13-year hiatus, the group returned as a power trio with guitarist Mitch Stein playing two notable shows in New York City.
His work with Nina Simone caught the eye of Miles Davis, who recruited him to play trap-set drums on Bitches Brew. Alias played alongside Jack DeJohnette utilizing a "lean and loose" syncopation that channel inspiration from New Orleans parade tunes.
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Don Alias
Charles "Don" Alias (ah-LIE-ahs; December 25, 1939 – March 28, 2006) was an American jazz percussionist.
Alias was best known for playing congas and other hand drums. He was also a capable drum kit performer. He played drums on the song "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" from trumpeter Miles Davis's album Bitches Brew (1969), when neither Lenny White nor Jack DeJohnette was able to play the marching band-inspired rhythm requested by Davis. He also played drums and percussion on the Joni Mitchell live album Shadows and Light.
Alias performed on hundreds of recordings and was best known for his associations with Miles Davis and saxophonist David Sanborn. He also performed and recorded with artists such as Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, the Brecker Brothers, Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny, Nina Simone, and many others.
Alias was born in New York City on December 25, 1939. He studied piano and guitar as a boy but turned to percussion, learning from the rhythms he learned on New York's streets and the one-on-one lessons with the percussionist Mongo Santamaria. At 16 years old, he was enrolled as a conga player for the Eartha Kitt Dance Foundation, when he landed his first professional gig playing with Dizzy Gillespie at the Newport Jazz Festival.
He had a degree in biology, studying at Gannon College and the Carnegie Institute for Biochemistry in Boston. During his time in Boston, he played in jazz night clubs, where he met students from the Berklee College of Music, which aided his entry into the music industry.
While at school in Boston, Alias met bassist Gene Perla, with whom he formed the jazz trio, Stone Alliance, in 1964. The group also included saxophonist Steve Grossman, mainly centering on jazz, Afro-Cuban, rock, and pop music. In 1976, the trio began a 15-day tour in Chile, launched through the US State Department Jazz Diplomacy program. The initial leg, with 10 locations in Chile, extended into a 6-month tour with stops in Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
The group totaled two South American tours, four European tours, and two Canada tours. The band recorded four studio albums between 1976 and 1980, with live albums from Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Berlin, and Bremen. After a 13-year hiatus, the group returned as a power trio with guitarist Mitch Stein playing two notable shows in New York City.
His work with Nina Simone caught the eye of Miles Davis, who recruited him to play trap-set drums on Bitches Brew. Alias played alongside Jack DeJohnette utilizing a "lean and loose" syncopation that channel inspiration from New Orleans parade tunes.