Idris Muhammad –

While he had spent the past two decades working with jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, Muhammad’s drumming covered almost every genre of contemporary music, including rock ‘n’ roll. He toured or recorded with a who’s who of big names — Roberta Flack, Grover Washington, George Benson, Sonny Stitt and John Scofield, to name a few.  Muhammad got his first national touring gig with Sam Cooke before moving on to Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield and beyond.

He mixed the New Orleans sound, that sound of the street music, with jazz music and rock ‘n’ roll, and had all that intertwined, he tuned his drum to get the sound from the New Orleans street bands, the marching bands, and he’d get that kind of sound that would come from New Orleans. That’s why he was so sought after.

“He had the syncopation of New Orleans.”

After learning of the news, Wednesday’s (July 30) “Morning Set” jazz show featured plenty of Muhammad’s work.
“I’d put him on the Mount Rushmore of New Orleans drummers, along with Smokey Johnson, Johnny Vidacovich and Herlin Riley,” said George Ingmire, host of Wednesday’s “New Orleans Music Show” and the nationally syndicated radio show “New Orleans Calling.” As soon as he had set up his Mount Rushmore, of course, Ingmire, who didn’t know Muhammad personally, started thinking of others worth including, such as Zigaboo Modeliste and Ed Blackwell. But Muhammad, he said, was special: “It was his the soulfulness that he brought to the funkiness of the music. He opened it up a little more by drumming in a soulful way. He played with a lot of people, and made their music sound better.” – From HERE

 

THIS is some serious grooving right here: