Idris Muhammad


Idris Muhammad was an American jazz drummer who recorded with Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, Pharoah Sanders, and Tete Montoliu.

Biography

Born Leo Morris in New Orleans, he grew up in the city's 13th Ward. He showed early talent as a percussionist and began his professional career while still a teenager, playing on Fats Domino’s "Blueberry Hill".
He toured with Sam Cooke, and later worked with Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield, mostly working in R&B until the mid-1960s, before going on to work more frequently in jazz.
Muhammad was an endorser of Istanbul Agop Cymbals.
He died aged 74 in 2014.

Personal life

He changed his name to Idris Muhammad in the 1960s upon his conversion to Islam. Speaking of 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 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, and he had one daughter from a previous marriage to Gracie Lee Edwards.

Discography

Idris Muhammad is probably best known for his 1974 album Power of Soul, including the track "Loran's Dance", which received considerable airplay on jazz radio stations.

As leader

With Nat Adderley
With Eric Alexander
With Gene Ammons
With George Benson
With Walter Bishop, Jr.
With Bobby Broom
With Rusty Bryant
With George Coleman
With Hank Crawford
With Paul Desmond
With Fats Domino
With Lou Donaldson
With Charles Earland
With Grant Green
With Johnny Griffin
With Roy Hargrove
With Benjamin Herman
With John Hicks
With Andrew Hill
With Richard "Groove" Holmes
With Freddie Hubbard
With Bobbi Humphrey
With Willis Jackson
With Ahmad Jamal
With Bob James
With J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding
With Etta Jones
With Rodney Jones
With Keystone Trio
With Charles Kynard
With Joe Lovano
With Johnny Lytle
  • Fast Hands
  • Good Vibes
With Harold Mabern
With Jimmy McGriff
With Tete Montoliu
With Tisziji Munoz
With David "Fathead" Newman
With Don Patterson
With Houston Person
With Ernest Ranglin
With Roots
With Pharoah Sanders
With John Scofield
With Shirley Scott
With Lonnie Smith
With Melvin Sparks
With Leon Spencer
With Bob Stewart
With Sonny Stitt
With Gábor Szabó
With Stanley Turrentine
With Randy Weston
With Reuben Wilson
With Roberto Magris