Idris Muhammad


Idris Muhammad was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He had an extensive career performing jazz, funk, R&B, and soul music and recorded with musicians such as Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, Pharoah Sanders, Bob James, and Tete Montoliu.

Biography

Born in New Orleans, Idris Muhammad grew up in the city's 13th Ward in a home next door to a dry cleaner's shop. He later would claim the sound of the shop's steam presser influenced his hi-hat technique.
Growing up, he spent time with fellow New Orleanians The Neville Brothers. Also interested in other instruments, he showed early talent as a percussionist, playing in a Mardi Gras parade at age 9.
Muhammad asked Paul Barbarin to teach him to read music but Barbarin, who thought he was already so talented, declined.
At the age of 14, Muhammad began his professional career by performing with The Hawketts on their iconic recording "Mardi Gras Mambo". Two years later, in 1956, he played drums on Fats Domino's recording of "Blueberry Hill".
After being introduced by Joe Jones, Muhammad began touring with Sam Cooke. Later he played with Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield in Chicago, working largely in R'n'B, before moving to New York City in the mid-1960s. In New York, Muhammad became embedded in the jazz scene playing with Kenny Dorham, Horace Silver, Lou Donaldson and Betty Carter. He also played in the Apollo Theatre's house band. In 1967, he accepted a job in the orchestra for the initial off-Broadway production of Hair and stayed with the production when it moved to Broadway.
During this time, Muhammad was also in the Prestige label's house band and made more than 150 recordings for the Prestige, Blue Note, and CTI labels, among others. He recorded with artists such as Lou Donaldson and Charles Earland who had begun merging jazz with sounds from funk, soul and rock. Muhammad also appeared as a sideman with artists such as Gene Ammons, Nat Adderley, and George Benson. Rudy Van Gelder often worked with Muhammad and had a special relationship with him. The recording engineer greatly assisted with fine tuning Muhammad's recorded drum sound.
After four years with Hair, Muhammad left the production to tour with Roberta Flack whom he worked with for much of the next decade.
Muhammad's first recording as a leader, Black Rhythm Revolution!, was released by Prestige in 1970 and was followed by Peace and Rhythm in 1971. Both of these albums explored a range of styles and traditions found in jazz and New Orleans rhythms. Subsequent albums released on the Kudu imprint, Power of Soul, House of the Rising Sun, and Turn This Mutha Out, took a turn towards funk. These albums have subsequently become favourites of funk enthusiasts and have been heavily sampled by hip-hop artists.
Towards the end of the 1970s, Muhammad joined Johnny Griffin's band and also spent time playing with Pharoah Sanders.
By the 1980s, Muhammad had moved to Europe. He continued to regularly play and record, collaborating with the likes of Ahmad Jamal, Chico Freeman and Sonny Rollins.
In 2011 he moved back to New Orleans. He died of kidney failure in 2014, aged 74, and was buried according to Islamic burial traditions in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Personal life

He changed his name to Idris Muhammad in the 1960s upon his conversion to Islam. Speaking on his name change, he later noted in an interview with Modern Drummer magazine, "One guy told me that if I changed my name, I was going to have a problem because no one would know that Leo Morris and Idris Muhammad were the same guy...But I thought, well, if I stay the same person, then people will know it's me. And it worked like that. Everybody knew right away that it was me, because of my style of playing."
In 1966, he married singer Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, a former member of the Crystals. She converted to Islam with him and went for a time by the name Sakinah Muhammad. They separated in 1999. Together, they had two sons and two daughters; he also had a daughter from his first marriage to Gracie Lee Edwards. One son, also named Idris Muhammed, is a professional chef who has appeared on several cooking competition shows including Beat Bobby Flay and Chopped.
Muhammad endorsed Istanbul Agop Cymbals.

Discography

As leader

Black Rhythm Revolution! Peace and Rhythm Power of Soul House of the Rising Sun Turn This Mutha Out Boogie to the Top You Ain't No Friend of Mine Foxhuntin' Make It Count Kabsha My Turn
  • ''Right Now''

As sideman

With Nat AdderleyCalling Out Loud
With Eric AlexanderSolid!
With Gene AmmonsThe Black Cat! You Talk That Talk! My Way Got My Own Big Bad Jug
With George BensonGoodies Tell It Like It Is The Other Side of Abbey Road
With Walter Bishop, Jr.Bish Bash Coral Keys
With Bobby BroomModern Man
With Rusty BryantSoul Liberation Fire Eater Wild Fire
With Donald ByrdFancy Free
With George ColemanManhattan Panorama
With Hank CrawfordHelp Me Make it Through the Night Wildflower I Hear a Symphony Tight
With Art DavisLife
With Paul DesmondSummertime
With Fats DominoBlueberry Hill
With Lou DonaldsonFried Buzzard Blowing in the Wind Alligator Bogaloo Mr. Shing-A-Ling Midnight Creeper Say It Loud! Hot Dog Everything I Play is Funky Pretty Things The Scorpion Cosmos Sweet Poppa Lou
With Charles EarlandBlack Talk!
With Grant GreenCarryin' On Green Is Beautiful Alive! Live at Club Mozambique
With Johnny GriffinNYC Underground To the Ladies
With Roy HargroveHabana
With Benjamin HermanGet In
With John HicksSome Other Time In Concert Inc. 1 I'll Give You Something to Remember Me By Is That So?
With Andrew HillGrass Roots
With Richard "Groove" HolmesShippin' Out
With Freddie HubbardNew Colors
With Bobbi HumphreyFlute-In
With Willis JacksonBar Wars
With Ahmad JamalThe Essence Part One Big Byrd: The Essence Part 2 Nature: The Essence Part Three Picture Perfect Ahmad Jamal 70th Birthday/Olympia 2000 In Search of Momentum After Fajr It's Magic
With Bob JamesOne Touchdown
With J. J. Johnson and Kai WindingBetwixt & Between
With Etta JonesMy Mother's Eyes If You Could See Me Now
With Rodney JonesSoul Manifesto
With Keystone TrioHeart Beats Newklear Music
With Charles KynardWa-Tu-Wa-Zui (Beautiful People)
With Joe LovanoFriendly Fire Flights of Fancy: Trio Fascination Edition Two
With Johnny LytleFast Hands Good Vibes
With Harold MabernWorkin' & Wailin' Greasy Kid Stuff!
With Roberto MagrisMating Call
With Jimmy McGriffCity Lights
With Tete MontoliuCatalonian Rhapsody
With Tisziji MunozVisiting This Planet
With David "Fathead" NewmanConcrete Jungle Keep the Dream Alive
With Don PattersonWhy Not...
With Houston PersonPerson to Person! The Real Thing Wild Flower
With Ernest RanglinBelow the Bassline
With RootsStablemates
With Pharoah SandersJewels of Thought Journey to the One Pharoah Sanders Live... Heart is a Melody Shukuru Africa
With Horace SilverThat Healin' Feelin'
With John ScofieldGroove Elation
With Shirley ScottLean on Me
With Lonnie SmithTurning Point
With Melvin SparksSparks! Spark Plug Akilah!
With Leon SpencerSneak Preview! Louisiana Slim Bad Walking Woman Where I'm Coming From
With Bob StewartFirst Line
With Sonny StittTurn It On! Black Vibrations Goin' Down Slow
With Gábor SzabóMacho
With Stanley TurrentineCommon Touch Don't Mess with Mister T. The Sugar Man The Man with the Sad Face
With Randy WestonPortraits of Duke Ellington Portraits of Thelonious Monk Self Portraits Spirits of Our Ancestors
With Reuben Wilson'Love Bug

Sampled