Died On This Date (December 26, 2016) Alphonse Mouzon / Jazz Fusion Pioneer
themusicsover Alphonse Mouzon
November 21, 1948 – December 26, 2016
Alphonse Mouzon was a jazz drummer who came to be one of the architects of American jazz fusion during the late ’60s and early ’70s. Born in Charleston, SC, Mouzon realized in high school that he had what it took to make a living as a musician. Upon graduation, he moved to New York City where he studied music and drama. Mouzon’s first gig of note was playing percussion in the Broadway show, Promises, Promises. He then went to work with jazz great, McCoy Tyner, and spent about a year in Weather Report before being signed to Blue Note Records as a solo artist in 1972. In 1973, he joined up with Larry Coryell‘s Eleventh House, one of the premiere fusion bands of its time. He played with Coryell for about two years and can be heard on such albums as Introducing The Eleventh House and Level One. Throughout his career, which spanned over 45 years, Mouzon also recorded or performed with the likes of Donald Byrd, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Roberta Flack, Robert Plant, Stevie Wonder, and Eric Clapton – to name a few. Alphonse Mouzon died from neuroendocrine carcinoma on December 26, 2016. He was 68.
What You Should Own
Ralph MacDonald was an in-demand percussionist and hit songwriter who could count two of the biggest R&B songs of the ’70s as his own. Growing up in a musical family in Harlem, New York, MacDonald first picked up the steelpan as a youngster. By the time he was 17, he had already played his first big gig at a local Harry Belafonte show. He continued on with Belafonte for the next ten years until parting ways in 1971. MacDonald soon became one of contemporary music’s most in-demand session players, performing on countless R&B, jazz and disco records. The list of those he recorded with includes George Benson, Paul Simon, Jimmy Buffett, Carole King, Average White Band, the Brothers Johnson, 
Gene McDaniels was an American singer who scored six U.S. hits during the early 1960s. He was one of a group of African-Americans who successfully bridged the gap between jazz and early rock ‘n roll. McDaniels’ hits included “Tower Of Strength” which peaked at #5 on the pop charts, and “A Hundred Pounds Of Clay” which reached #3 in 1961 and sold over one million copies. McDaniels was also a successful songwriter, with his late ’60s output sometimes gravitating toward protest. He has been covered by Less McCann, D’Angelo, George Benson, and Roberta Flack who took his “Feel Like Making Love” to #1, earning him a Best Song Grammy and Flack a Best Record and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy. McDaniels can also be seen in such films as It’s Trad, Dad!, The Young Swingers, and Uptown Saturday Night. He continued to make music well into the 2000s, his last album being 2009’s Evolution’s Child. Gene McDaniels was 76 when he passed away on July 29, 2011.
Fran Landesman was an American poet and lyricist who achieved international acclaim for penning the words to such songs as “The Ballad Of The Sad Young Men” and “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most.” Born in New York City, Landesman eventually settled with her husband in St. Louis, Missouri where they owned and operated the Crystal Palace, a world-renowned night club that hosted the likes of Barbra Streisand, Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen. It was while sitting at the bar listening to the singers that Landesman was inspired to take a stab at writing song lyrics herself. The year was 1952, and it was then and there that she began collaborating with the club’s house pianist on a string of songs, some of which became hits as recorded by others. That list of singers includes R0berta Flack, Rickie Lee Jones, Bette Midler, 
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