Pheeroan akLaff


Pheeroan akLaff is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder” Lumpkin, The Ebony Set and The Last Days. He moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and formed a group with saxophonist/flautist/percussionist Dwight Andrews. He debuted with saxophonist Bill Barron in 1975, followed by a tenure in Leo Smith's ‘New Dalta Ahkri’.
akLaff developed a longstanding association with saxophonist and poet Oliver Lake starting in 1975, which included writing for their fusion ensemble, ‘Jump Up’. He recorded with Lake on and off from 1980-1992. His extensive work as a session musician includes collaborations with prominent jazz musicians Geri Allen, Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Don Byron, Julius Hemphill, Henry Threadgill, Mal Waldron, Sonny Sharrock, Anthony Davis and Reggie Workman. In 2006 he co-founded Seed Artists in Brooklyn. In 2009, he reestablished his creative partnership with Wadada Leo Smith after thirty years, and has recorded with him since, including Ten Freedom Summers, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013. akLaff currently teaches music at Wesleyan University.
WWW pheeroanaklaff.com

Discography

As leader

  • 1980: House of Spirit: Mirth
  • 1983: Fits Like a Glove
  • 1989: Sonogram
  • 1998: ''Global Mantras''

As sideman

With Geri Allen
;With Anthony Braxton
With Oliver Lake
With Henry Threadgill
With Jay Hoggard
With Craig Harris
With Ray Anderson
  • What Because
With Don Byron
With Baikida CarrollShadows and Reflections Door of the Cage Marionettes on a High Wire
With Anthony Davis
With Julius Hemphill
With Uwe Kropinski
  • First Time in Manhattan
With Roscoe Mitchell
With Amina Claudine Myers
With Sonny Sharrock
With Wadada Leo Smith
With Mal Waldron
With Reggie Workman
With Yōsuke Yamashita