Veteran drummer Idris Muhammad, who was born as Leo Morris but changed his name upon his conversion to Islam in the 1960s, has died. He past away on Tuesday (July 29) at the age of 74. In accordance with the traditions of Islam, Idris Muhammad was immediately buried.
His cause of death has not yet been confirmed, but Idris had been receiving dialysis treatment in New Orléans, his hometown where he had returned from New York City to retire in 2011.
Idris Muhammad developed a reputation for being able to adapt a New Orleans-style pulse to a wide variety of styles, and is featured on thousands of recordings. Eventaully his career spanned over five decades.
While he recorded 13 albums as a bandleader between 1970 and 1998, he is best known as a sideman, being the drummer of choice for many artists.
Idris recorded extensively with a host of stars including Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, John Scofield, Roberta Flack, George Benson, Grover Washington, Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, and Pharoah Sanders among many others.
One of Muhammad's earliest recorded sessions as a drummer was on Fats Domino's 1956 hit Blueberry Hill. The drummer was only sixteen years old at the time.
In 2012 the book 'Inside The Music: The Life of Idris Muhammad' was released, which the drummer wrote with his friend and fellow drummer Britt Alexander. The book has been enthusiastically received by the music community, who hailed it as a great look into his legend.
