Alphonse Mouzon

Several different drummers helped put jazz fusion on the map in the '70s. The one who seems to get most of the credit is Billy Cobham, but Alphonse Mouzon contributed quite a bit to the cause as well. Born on November 21, 1948, in Charleston, South Carolina, Mouzon got serious with his drumming in high school, where he studied with both a saxophonist and a drummer. Relocating to New York City in the late '60s to attend college, Mouzon had a hard time deciding between a career in music, drama, or medicine. Music wound up getting the nod by the dawn of the '70s, when Mouzon serv...