Alphonse Mouzon - R.I.P.

[Captain Bacardi]

Again.

Jazz drummer Alphonse Mouzon lost his fight with cancer today at the age of 68. He played with Weather Report for a year, then was the drummer for Larry Coryell's Eleventh House group before doing solo albums. His first solo album was called Mind Transplant, which was a fusion classic. He did another great album with Larry Coryell called Back Together Again. I also have a trio album he did with trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff and bassist Jaco Pastorious called Trilogue - Live! which is outstanding.

This year just can't end soon enough....

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Here's Alphonse playing with an early version of Weather Report in 1971:

 

[Bobberman]

I Agree this year cant end soon enough Indeed i have a few of Mouzon's Late 80s recordings " Love Fantasy " from 1986. And "Early Spring" from 1988 one of these include an Excellent Cover of Miles Davis's "Milestones" I dont have them before me right now But The Man was An Excellent Drummer And He Will Be Missed.

 

[jazzdre]

Oh snap! I really didn't hear that Alphonse passed away! I used to hear a lot about him, how great he was as a drummer! And believe it or not , last week(and last night), I read from commentaries from him on You Tube! I was listening to Quincy Jones' version of the Herbie Hancock classic Tell Me A Bedtime Story, then other the right side of the screen where they have other videos related to what you are looking at, and there was a video of the tune that was done by a very beautiful Japanese singer by the name of Kimiko Kasai. Having not heard of her, I clicked on her video, and this was the first time that I'd heard singing vocals on this tune! Herbie played on this as well, but Alphonse did too! He was commenting that he hadn't heard this record in 30 years, and remembers that they made the album in Japan. He was also commenting that he didn't think that Kimiko wrote the lyrics; it was probably wriiten by someone else.

On a side note: about Kimiko, from what I understand she was a popular jazz singer in Japan(one of her earliest albums was a duet lp with Mal Waldron) Then she started to do jazz/funk pop music, then more straight pop stuff, and even did an album with a bit of hip-hop techno funk flavor. She is officially retired from music and moved to Los Angeles and created her own jewelry line. Another interesting aside: she later married producer/songwriter Richard Rudolph, who was married to the late and legendary Minnie Riperton(who also left us far too early) If you ever get a chance, listen to Ms.Kasai's music; it's very good.

Again, about Alphonse very sorry about his loss. The greats we grew up with, we are losing it seems now everyday. RIP, Alphonse; you were great.

jazzdre

 

[Rudy]

I was listening to Quincy Jones' version of the Herbie Hancock classic Tell Me A Bedtime Story, then other the right side of the screen where they have other videos related to what you are looking at, and there was a video of the tune that was done by a very beautiful Japanese singer by the name of Kimiko Kasai. Having not heard of her, I clicked on her video, and this was the first time that I'd heard singing vocals on this tune! Herbie played on this as well, but Alphonse did too!

This was actually from the album she cut with Herbie Hancock back in 1979. She does a vocal version of one of my favorite Hancock tunes, "Butterfly," which is the title cut from the album. Mouzon played throughout the album also.