Alphonse Mouzon started playing when he was four years old and was taught drums at high school. He relocated to New York when he was 17 and in 1969 played in the Broadway musical Promises, Promises. He released his first record in the same year, with Gil Evans. He freelanced for a time before playing with Weather Report in 1971, McCoy Tyner (1972-73), Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House (1973-75) and in a trio with Albert Mangelsdorff and Jaco Pastorius. After that Mouzon again freelanced until he joined Herbie Hancock in the late 70s.

Later recordings such as Early Spring (1988) and The Survivor (1992) edged towards smooth mainstream jazz, alienating some fans and critics. In 1996 he released a new album and landed a small part in the Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do.

Mouzon tries to bring ‘jazz polyrhythms to a rock pulse’ and in this he succeeds, with his furiously propulsive drumming which is as welcome in a rock setting as in straight jazz.