Effective period / Period of releases: 1973 - 2014

American free jazz and avant-garde jazz drummer, born Robert Patterson on July 1st, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, moved to New York in 1963; brother of jazz drummers Muhammad Ali and Umar Ali. Passed away August 12th, 2009.

He ran the venue Ali's Alley, opened 1973, closed 1979, located in Soho, 77 Greene St., N.Y.C. 10012 New York. At the same location he ran Studio 77, NYC. He also founded Survival Records (2).

Starting off as a pianist he eventually took up the drums, via trumpet and trombone.(wikipedia)