Music
Pheeroan akLaff
born 1955 · jazz drummer, percussionist, educator
Detroit-born drummer, born Paul Maddox, who started in Detroit and Ann Arbor funk and R&B bands and became a leading drummer of American creative jazz.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 71- Birth name
- Paul Maddox
- Detroit years
- 1955–1970s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Pheeroan akLaff was born Paul Maddox in Detroit and began playing in his hometown and in Ann Arbor with R&B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod "The Grinder" Lumpkin, and the bands The Ebony Set and The Last Days. He moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where he formed a group with saxophonist and flutist Dwight Andrews, made his recording debut with saxophonist Bill Barron in 1975, and spent 1977–1979 in trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's New Dalta Ahkri. A long partnership with saxophonist and poet Oliver Lake began in 1975, including their fusion band Jump Up, and his session work spans Geri Allen, a fellow Detroiter, as well as Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Julius Hemphill, Mal Waldron and Sonny Sharrock. In 2006 he co-founded the Brooklyn organization Seed Artists. Reuniting with Smith in 2009, he played on Ten Freedom Summers, a 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist. He teaches music at Wesleyan University.
Highlights
- Began in Detroit and Ann Arbor R&B and funk bands
- Member of Wadada Leo Smith's New Dalta Ahkri (1977–1979)
- Longtime partner of Oliver Lake from 1975
- Drummer on Ten Freedom Summers, a 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist
- Teaches at Wesleyan University