Pheeroan akLaff (born January 27, 1955) is an American
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
drummer.
[Allmusic]
Pheeroan akLaff began playing in his hometown of
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
, and
Ann Arbor, MichiganAnn Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. It is the state's seventh largest city with a population of 114,024 as of the 2000 Census, of which 36,892 are university or college students...
with Travis Biggs, Ars Nova, The Ebony Set, The Last Days, and Rod Lumpkin, recorded with Major Lansky. Moved to
New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven is the second-largest municipality in Connecticut, after Bridgeport and just ahead of Hartford, with a core population of about 124,000 people. "New Haven" may also refer to the wider Greater New Haven area, which has nearly 600,000 inhabitants in the immediate area...
and formed DejaVu with Dwight Andrews.
Pheeroan akLaff (born January 27, 1955) is an American
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
drummer.
[Allmusic]
Biography
Pheeroan akLaff began playing in his hometown of
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
, and
Ann Arbor, MichiganAnn Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. It is the state's seventh largest city with a population of 114,024 as of the 2000 Census, of which 36,892 are university or college students...
with Travis Biggs, Ars Nova, The Ebony Set, The Last Days, and Rod Lumpkin, recorded with Major Lansky. Moved to
New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven is the second-largest municipality in Connecticut, after Bridgeport and just ahead of Hartford, with a core population of about 124,000 people. "New Haven" may also refer to the wider Greater New Haven area, which has nearly 600,000 inhabitants in the immediate area...
and formed DejaVu with Dwight Andrews. Debuted with Bill Baron in 1975; followed by tenure in
Leo SmithLeo R. Smith is an American sculptor and folk artist from Winona, Minnesota, Minnesota. He works primarily in wood. A collection of over 400 Leo Smith sculptures is on display at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, MN.-References:...
's New Dalta Ahkri.
Later developed a longstanding association with
Oliver LakeOliver Lake is an American alto saxophonist, flutist, composer and poet. Lake started playing and studying the alto saxophone in 1960, where in the mid 1960s he was working with the St. Louis Black Artists Group ...
, which included writing for their fusion ensemble, Jump Up. His performance and recorded history includes works with
Andrew HillAndrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one of the most important progenitors of Free jazz piano, though he is considered more mainstream jazz than Cecil Taylor, two years his senior.The body of work he is most lauded for was recorded for Blue Note Records,...
,
Cecil TaylorCecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
,
Reggie WorkmanReginald "Reggie" Workman is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his important work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey.-Biography:...
,
Anthony DavisAnthony Davis , better known as Tony Davis, is an American composer, jazz pianist, and student of gamelan music....
,
Liu SolaLiu Sola is a Chinese composer, author, and vocalist.She has worked with James Blood Ulmer, Jerome Bailey, Wu Man, Henry Threadgill, Umar Bin Hassan, and Bill Laswell....
,
Michael Gregory JacksonMichael Gregory is an American jazz guitarist, singer and songwriter.
,
Baikida CarrollBaikida Carroll is an American jazz trumpeter.Carroll studied at Southern Illinois University and at the Armed Forces School of Music early in his career. Following this he became a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, where he directed their free jazz ensemble...
,
Yosuke YamashitaYōsuke Yamashita is an acclaimed jazz pianist from Tokyo, Japan.He is praised by critics for his unique piano style...
,
Jay HoggardJay Hoggard is an American jazz vibraphonist.Jay Hoggard was raised in a religious family. He was born in Washington, D.C. but grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. His mother thaught him how to play piano at a young age. At age 15 Jay started to play the vibraphone.Hoggard first played piano and...
,
Sonny SharrockWarren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed....
,
James NewtonJames W. Newton is an American jazz flautist, composer, and conductor.-Biography:From his earliest years, James Newton grew up immersed in the sounds of African American music, including urban blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel. In his early teens he played electric bass guitar, alto saxophone,...
,
Geri AllenGeri Allen is an American post bop jazz pianist, producer, and music educator from Detroit, Michigan, who has worked with many of the greats of modern jazz, including Dave Holland, Ron Carter, Ravi Coltrane, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Ornette Coleman, Betty Carter, Mary Stallings, and Charles...
,
Ray AndersonRay Anderson is an independent jazz trombone and trumpet player. Anderson is a boisterous trombonist who is masterful at multiphonics. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as pushing the limits of the instrument. He is a contemporary and colleague of trombonist/composer...
,
Marty EhrlichMarty Ehrlich is a multi-instrumentalist and is considered one of the leading figures in experimental or avant-garde jazz....
,
Mal WaldronMalcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...
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David MurrayDavid Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
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Dewey RedmanDewey Redman was an American jazz saxophonist, known for free jazz....
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AirAir was a free jazz trio founded in 1971 by saxophone player Henry Threadgill, double bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall. They combined radical free improvisation with a strong sense of tune and equal emphasis on each instrument in the group....
,
George Adams-Public officials:*George Adams , English Whig political figure; in 1773 inherited Anson family estates and assumed the surname of Anson*George Adams , American jurist and political figure who served in Kentucky legislature and as Mississippi attorney general and federal judge*George Willison...
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Sonny SharrockWarren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed....
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Myra MelfordMyra Melford is a jazz pianist and composer. In recent years, Melford has begun playing the harmonium as well as piano.Melford grew up in the Chicago area...
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Amina Claudine MyersAmina Claudine Myers in Blackwell, Arkansas; is an American jazz pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and musical arranger.-Biography:...
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Karen BorcaKaren Borca is an American free jazz bassoonist.Borca studied music at the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1971. While there she met Cecil Taylor, who taught there during the 1970/71 academic year; she acted as his teaching assistant and played with him in the Cecil Taylor Unit...
,.
Co-founder of Seed Artists Inc. of Brooklyn 2006.
Wesleyan UniversityWesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the now secular university was the first institution of higher...
music teacher.
As leader
- 1981: Clevont Fitzhubert (Black Saint)
- 1981: Prophet (Black Saint)
- 1983; Fits Like a Glove (Gramavision)
- 1989: Sonogram (Mu Works)
- 1998: Global Mantras (Modern Masters)
As sideman
With Henry ThreadgillHenry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist.-Early life and career:Threadgill first performed as a percussionist in his high school marching band before taking up the baritone saxophone and later a large portion of the woodwind instrument family...
- When Was That?
When Was That? is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the About Time label in 1982. The album and features five of Threadgill's compositions performed by Threadgill with Craig Harris, Olu Dara, Fred Hopkins, Brian Smith, Pheeroan akLaff and John Betsch.The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek states...
(1982)
- Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket
Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the About Time label in 1983. The album and features six of Threadgill's compositions performed by Threadgill with Craig Harris, Olu Dara, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, Pheeroan akLaff and John Betsch.The Allmusic review...
(1983)
- Subject to Change
Subject to Change is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the About Time label in 1985. The album features six of Threadgill's compositions performed by Threadgill with Ray Anderson, Rasul Siddik, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, Pheeroan akLaff and John Betsch with Amina Claudine Myers...
(1985)
With Don ByronDon Byron is an American composer and multi-intrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet, but also used bass clarinet and saxophones....
- Tuskegee Experiments
Tuskegee Experiments is the first album as leader by jazz clarinettist Don Byron. Its title refers to the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male — the notorious medical experiment conducted around Tuskegee, Alabama, lasting from 1932 to 1972, in which 400 subjects, mainly...
(1992)