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Alphonse Mouzon
Biography
Several different drummers helped put jazz fusion on the map in the '70s. The one who seems to get most of the credit is Billy Cobham, but others, such as Alphonse Mouzon, contributed quite a bit to the cause as well. Born on November 21, 1948, in Charleston, SC, Mouzon got serious with his drumming in high school, where he studied with both a saxophonist and a drummer. Relocating to New York City in the late '60s to attend college, Mouzon had a hard time deciding between a career in music, drama, or medicine. Music wound up getting the nod by the dawn of the '70s, when Mouzon served as a session drummer on recordings by Tim Hardin (Bird on a Wire), Gil Evans (Gil Evans), Weather Report (Weather Report), Norman Connors (Dance of Magic), John Klemmer (Magic and Movement), and Teruo Nakamura (Unicorn). Mouzon also began issuing solo albums around this time, including such early releases as 1972's The Essence of Mystery and 1973's Funky Snakefoot. But Mouzon decided to take a momentary break from session work to concentrate on being a full-time member of Larry Coryell's Eleventh House, with whom he appeared on several releases with from 1974 through 1975 (Introducing Larry Coryell & the Eleventh House, At Montreux, Level One, etc.
Selected Discography