Free jazz drummer Muhammad Ali is late Rashied Ali's brother. He was born as Raymond Patterson in Philadelphia in 1936. He recorded with Albert Ayler in 1969 on the sessions released as 'Music is the Healing Force of the Universe' and 'The Last Album'. Muhammad moved to Europe in 1969 along with his brother.



Muhammad Ali appears on records by Frank Wright as part of the Center of the World Quartet, as well as Archie Shepp, Dave Burrell and Alan Shorter (including three of the tracks on Alan Shorter's debut as a leader, 'Orgasm'). There is very little information available about Ali though he has played on what most consider extremely important free jazz records.



Muhammad Ali participated in at least 26 recording sessions from 1967 to 1983. In October 2006, he played a concert to celebrate John Coltrane's 80th birthday in Philadelphia with his brother Rashied, Burrell and bassist Reggie Workman. The summer of 2008 saw Muhammed playing with Noah Howard.



Muhammad Ali's playing is very muscular, very heavy and often with an almost-clumsy sound. He is equally or perhaps even more bombastic than his brother Rashied Ali with an exhausting stamina.



Factoid:

Muhammad Ali spent six weeks teaching Haaz Sleiman to play drums for his part as a drummer in The Visitor, and spent some time teaching Richard Jenkins drums for his lead role in the same film.