Rashied Ali
| Rashied Ali | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Robert Patterson |
| Born |
July 1, 1933 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died | August 12, 2009 (aged 76) New York City, New York United States |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Years active | 1963–2009 |
| Labels | Tzadik |
| Associated acts | John Coltrane, Phalanx |
| Website | rashiedali |
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.
Patterson was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; his family was musical: his mother had sung with Jimmie Lunceford. His brother, Muhammad Ali, is also a drummer, who played with Albert Ayler, among others. Ali, along with his father and brother, converted to Islam.
Starting off as a pianist he eventually took up the drums, via trumpet and trombone. He joined the United States Army, and played with military bands during the Korean War. After his military service he returned home and studied with Philly Joe Jones.
Ali moved to New York in 1963 and worked in groups with Bill Dixon and Paul Bley. In addition, Ali was scheduled to be the second drummer, alongside Elvin Jones, on John Coltrane's landmark free jazz album Ascension, but he dropped out just before the recording was to take place. Coltrane did not replace him, and settled for one drummer. Ali began to record with Coltrane from Meditations in November 1965 onwards.
Among his credits are the last recorded work of John Coltrane's life (The Olatunji Concert) and Interstellar Space, an album of duets with Coltrane recorded earlier in 1967. Ali "became important in stimulating the most avant-garde kinds of jazz activities". Following Coltrane's death Ali played with his widow, Alice, and during the early 1970s, he ran Ali's Alley, an influential loft club in New York. He spent some time as a visiting artist at Wesleyan University, sponsored by Clifford Thornton. Ali also briefly formed a non-jazz project called Purple Trap with Japanese experimental guitarist Keiji Haino and jazz-fusion bassist Bill Laswell. Their double-CD album, Decided...Already the Motionless Heart of Tranquility, Tangling the Prayer Called "I", was released on John Zorn's Tzadik Records label in March 1999.
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