Alphonse Mouzon, Drummer for Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, More, Dead at 68

Alphonse Mouzon, Drummer for Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, More, Dead at 68

Alphonse Mouzon, the prolific jazz and fusion drummer who played in Weather Report and the Eleventh House, as well as with Herbie Hancock and other jazz icons, died on Sunday, the New York Times reports. The cause was cardiac arrest, according to his son Jean-Pierre Mouzon. Alphonse had been battling a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer. He was 68.

Mouzon’s major break came when he joined Weather Report, playing on their pioneering, self-titled debut LP in 1971. By the release of their second album, he’d left the group; in the following years he drummed with jazz-rock band the Eleventh House and recorded jazz-funk records of his own. In the following years, he expanded his remit, drumming for the likes of Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Wonder, as well as Herbie Hancock. Below, read a tribute from Questlove.

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