Don Alias
American drummer (1939–2006)
Don Alias
Birth name Charles Alias Born (1939-12-25 ) December 25, 1939New York City , New York, U.S.Died March 28, 2006(2006-03-28) (aged 66) New York, New York, U.S. Genres Occupation Musician Instrument Percussion Years active 1960s–2006 Website Official website
Musical artist
Charles "Don " Alias [ 1] (December 25, 1939 – March 28, 2006)[ 2] was an American jazz percussionist.
Alias was best known for playing congas and other hand drums . He was, however, a capable drum kit performer: for example, Alias played drums on the song "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" from trumpeter Miles Davis 's album Bitches Brew (1969) when neither Lenny White nor Jack DeJohnette was able to play the marching band -inspired rhythm requested by Davis.[ 3] He also played drums and percussion on the Joni Mitchell live album Shadows and Light .
Alias performed on hundreds of recordings and was perhaps best known for his associations with Miles Davis and saxophonist David Sanborn , though he also performed or recorded with Weather Report , singer Joni Mitchell , pianist Herbie Hancock , the Brecker Brothers , Jaco Pastorius , Pat Metheny , Nina Simone and many others. Alias was born in New York City and arrived in Boston in the early 1960s intending to study medicine, but after playing congas in a number of local bands, made an abrupt career switch.
Discography
As sideman
With Philip Bailey
With Cheryl Bentyne
Talk of The Town (Paddle Wheel, 2002)
The Lights Still Burn (Paddle Wheel, 2003)
Moonlight Serenade (King, 2003)
The Book of Love (Telarc, 2006)
With Carla Bley
With Blood, Sweat & Tears
With Jonathan Butler
Heal Our Hand (Jive, 1990)
Head to Head (Mercury, 1993)
With Uri Caine
With David Clayton-Thomas
With Marc Cohn
With Miles Davis
With Jack DeJohnette
With Klaus Doldinger
Doldinger in New York – Street of Dreams (WEA, 1994)
With Eliane Elias
With Joe Farrell
With Roberta Flack
With Dan Fogelberg
With Michael Franks
With Bill Frisell
With Hal Galper
With Kenny Garrett
With Don Grolnick Group
With Herbie Hancock
With Ian Hunter
With Elvin Jones
With Dave Liebman
With Joe Lovano
With Pat Metheny Group
With Bob Mintzer
With Joni Mitchell
With Jane Monheit
In the Sun (N-Coded, 2002)
With Pages
Future Street (Epic, 1979)
With Jaco Pastorius
With Weather Report
With Lou Reed
With Sanne Salomonsen
In a New York Minute (Virgin, 1998)
With Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin
With Lalo Schifrin
With Marlena Shaw
Love is in Flight (Verve, 1988)
With Nina Simone
With Jeremy Steig
With Ira Sullivan
With Steve Swallow
With James Taylor
With The Tony Williams Lifetime
References
External links
Studio albums Live albums Compilations Singles Related
Dave Gellis
Glenn McClelland
Jon Ossman
Carl Fischer
Barry Danielian
Charley Gordon
Ken Gioffre
Joel Rosenblatt
Bo Bice
Studio albums Live albums Compilation albums Soundtracks Singles
International National Academics Artists Other