Percussionist par excellence
Don Alias remains best known for his work at the vanguard of the fusion movement, exploring both sides of the jazz-rock equation via contributions to landmark sessions headlined by
Miles Davis and
Joni Mitchell. Born
Charles Donald Alias in New York City on Christmas Day 1939, he was the son of Caribbean immigrants and grew up in Harlem, where he absorbed the lessons of neighborhood Cuban and Puerto Rican hand drummers. While in high school,
Alias played conga with the
Eartha Kitt Dance Foundation, and in 1957 accompanied the singer at the Newport Jazz Festival. He nevertheless mothballed his musical career to study biology at Erie, PA's Cannon College, followed by a stint at Boston's Carnegie Institute for Biochemistry. While in Boston
Alias regularly moonlighted at local clubs in the company of students of the nearby Berklee School of Music, among them conguero
Bill Fitch and bassist
Gene Perla; he also played bass in a short-lived trio featuring
Chick Corea on guitar and
Tony Williams on drums. When
Perla landed a gig with
Nina Simone, he convinced the singer to hire
Alias to assume drumming duties; by the end of his three-year stint,
Alias was serving as musical director, eventually capturing the attention of legendary trumpeter
Miles Davis, with whom
Simone regularly shared festival bills.
Hired as an auxiliary percussionist for the 1969 sessions that yielded
Davis' fusion masterpiece
Bitches Brew,
Alias ended up devising the loose, syncopated rhythm that drives "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down," one of the record's most celebrated cuts. After completing the album,
Alias spent a year supporting
Davis on tour before reuniting with
Tony Williams on his 1971 LP
Ego; he spent the next several years as a hired gun, appearing on dates including
Weather Report's
Black Market and
Jaco Pastorius' classic 1976 solo debut before settling in New York City, where he reteamed with
Gene Perla to form the Afro-Cuban fusion combo
Stone Alliance with saxophonist
Steve Grossman, mounting a U.S. State Department-funded tour of South America and releasing a handful of LPs including Marcio Montarroyos and
Con Amigos. In 1977
Alias teamed with
Joni Mitchell for
Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, the first in a series of jazz-inspired recordings that also included 1979's
Mingus and the live
Shadows and Light;
Alias was also the percussionist of choice for musicians spanning from singer
Roberta Flack to saxophonist
David Sanborn, the latter a regular collaborator for close to two decades.
Alias and
Perla resurrected
Stone Alliance in 1980 with pianist
Kenny Kirkland and tenor saxophonist
Bob Mintzer, issuing the acclaimed
Heads Up; during this time he also worked with
Pastorious' new band, Word of Mouth, appearing on its self-titled 1982 Warner Bros. debut LP as well as several subsequent live releases. From 1985 to 1987
Alias lived in Montreal, where he fronted Kebekwa, a ten-piece fusion ensemble boasting a punishing five-man percussion battery. Upon returning to New York, he resumed his busy session schedule, in the years to follow appearing on dates led by
Chick Corea,
Herbie Hancock, and
Michael Brecker. In 1996,
Alias and
Perla formed another incarnation of
Stone Alliance with guitarist
Mitch Stein. This edition of the group proved its longest lived, and its profile was further elevated by a series of live recordings spotlighting the founding lineup.
Alias and
Perla were also collaborating on a joint memoir at the time of the percussionist's sudden death at his Manhattan home on March 28, 2006.
Alias was 66 years old. ~ Jason Ankeny