Jazz drummer, composer/arranger and label owner Alphonse Mouzon - who played with the likes of Larry Corryel, Weather Report, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, among others -- has died at the age of 68 on December 25 following a short battle with Neuroendocrine Carcinoma, a rare form of cancer.
He was diagnosed with the illness in September 2016. On December 21, he was hospitalised to perform a brief surgery operation to fix his neuphrosomy tubes and was released shortly after.
According to his Facebook page, on Christmas morning Mouzon "began to display trouble breathing. His daughter Emma immediately began giving CPR while her mother Allison called 911. EMT staff arrived on scene and tried to revive Alphonse. After several attempts he was declared deceased, with the cause being cardiac arrest. His sons arrived immediately to the home in Granada Hills, and got to see and say goodbye to their father for the last time."
Born on November 21, 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina, Mouzon studied music at his local Bonds-Wilson High School before moving to New York to study drama and music at the City College of New York. Bobby Thomas, the drummer for jazz pianist Billy Taylor, acted as a mentor and drum teacher to Mouzon.
After playing with Weather Report and McCoy Tyner, Mouzon signed in 1972 as a solo artist to the Blue Note label, for which he recorded a series of solo albums between 1972 and 1975. During the same period, he joined Eleventh House, the jazz-fusion band set up by guitarist Larry Coryell, taking part in the recording of such albums as Introducing the Eleventh House, and Level One.
Over the following decades he worked as a session musician in studio or on stage, and continued to release new music. In 1991, he performed with Miles Davis on the movie soundtrack album entitled Dingo. The following year, he set up Tenacious Records, through which he would release his music.
Mouzon is survived by his two sons Alphonse Phillipe and Jean-Pierre, his daughter Emma Alexandra, his sisters Cherry and Elvina, and granddaughters Andrea and Mikayla.
