Idris Muhammad

Pioneering New Orleans drummer Idris Muhammad wed syncopated grooves, bluesy swing, and funky breaks to second line and parade rhythms. His resumé includes nearly 500 recording credits, starting with Art Neville and the Hawketts' "Mardi Gras Mambo" (1954) and Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill" (1956). He spent the rest of his teens and early twenties on the road with Sam Cooke and Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions. After long tenures with Lou Donaldson, Pharoah Sanders, and Ahmad Jamal, he worked on important recordings and toured with Roberta Flack, Grover Washington, Jr., and Bob James, to name just a few. Muhammad's leader discography includes the mid-'70s triumvirate Power of Soul (a jazz-funk classic), House of the Rising Sun, and Turn This Mutha Out. During the '80s and '90s, he worked as a touring sideman. The Champs, offered in 2004, was his final leader date. Idris Muhammad died in 2014.