Rashied Ali, the great free jazz drummer who was a member of John Coltrane’s last band, has died yesterday in New York, according to his website.
Born Robert Patterson in Philadelphia he moved to New York in 1963 and quickly moved to the heart and the heat of the free scene, replacing Elvin Jones when Coltrane’s music moved from the classic quartet to the uncompromising spiritual music that Ali helped usher in along with Trane’s wife Alice and others.
In addition to Coltrane, Ali had worked with Paul Bley, Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, and John Zorn. Just this weekend, Ali had performed with his By Any Means trio at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Details of Ali’s death are still unclear.
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