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Alex Acuña

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Alex Acuña
Background information
Birth nameAlejandro Neciosup Acuña
Also known asAlex Acuña
Born (1944-12-12) December 12, 1944 (age 79)
Pativilca, Peru
GenresJazz, jazz fusion, Afro-Cuban jazz
Occupation(s)Drummer, percussionist, teacher
InstrumentPercussion

Alejandro Neciosup Acuña aka Alex Acuña (born December 12, 1944)[1] is a Peruvian drummer and percussionist, in the Afro-Cuban jazz style.

Background

Born in Pativilca, Peru, Acuña played in local bands from the age of ten, and moved to Lima as a teenager. At the age of eighteen he joined the band of Perez Prado, and in 1966 he moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1974 Acuña moved to Las Vegas, working with artists such as Elvis Presley and Diana Ross, and the following year he joined the jazz-fusion group Weather Report, appearing on the albums Black Market and Heavy Weather. Acuña left Weather Report in 1978, and became a session musician in California, recording and playing live with (amongst many others) Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Chick Corea, Whitney Houston, Plácido Domingo, former Weather Report bandmates Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Beck, Roberta Flack, U2, Al Jarreau Marcos Witt. He can be found on recordings by musicians as culturally Lee Ritenour, Johnny Clegg, Roy Orbison, YellowJackets, Lalo Schiffrin, Milton Nascimento, Don Grusin, Dave Grusin, The Brecker Brothers, Arturo sandoval, Paquito d' Rivera, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Brad Melhdau, Paco de Lucia, John Patitucci, Sadao Watanabe, Lyle Mays, Diana Ross, Sergio Mendez, Robbie Robertson, Jackson Browne Beth Midler, Jennifer Nettles, Christina Aguilera, Seal, Chris Botti.

In the 1980s Acuña also recorded and toured with the Christian jazz band Koinonia, which featured session musicians Abraham Laboriel, Justo Almario, Hadley Hockensmith, Harlan Rogers, and Bill Maxwell. The Winans, Andrae Crouch, Madona, He played on Willy DeVille's Crow Jane Alley album and in 1987 he teamed up with Elvis Presley's TCB Band for the Roy Orbison TV special "A Black and White Night". He played percussion on Blondie's number one hit "The Tide Is High", Also recorded more than 300 movies under the direction of lalo Shiffrin, Dave Grusin, Michelle Legrand, Bill Conti, James Horner, James Newton Howard, John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Michael Giachinno, Christopher Beck, Murice Jarre, Steve Jablonski, John Powell, Heitor Pereira. In 1987, Acuña was summoned back to Perú by producer Ricardo Ghibellini to be the musical producer of Los Hijos del Sol, a supergroup of peruvian prodigies designed to promote peruvian music worldwide.

He has also worked as an educator at University of California, Los Angeles and Berklee College of Music. LAMA, Musicians Institute, USC, CSUN.

Selected discography

Equipment

Gon Bops Percussion[2]

  • Alex Acuna Special Edition Congas
  • Alex Acuna Signature Timbales
  • Alex Acuna Special Edition Cajon
  • Alex Acuna Signature Cajon
  • Alex Acuna Special Edition Bongos
  • Alex Acuna Bells

Awards

  • Best Latin/Brazilian Percussionist, Modern Drummer's Readers Poll.

References

  1. ^ Collins, Catherine; Kernfeld, Barry (2002). "Acuña, Alex". In Barry Kernfeld (ed.). The new Grove dictionary of jazz (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. pp. 11–12. ISBN 1561592846.
  2. ^ http://www.gonbops.com/artist/alex-acuna

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Antonio-Carlos-Jobim-And-Friends/release/1256711
http://www.discogs.com/artist/37735-Lee-Ritenour

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