Alejandro Acuña aka Alex Acuña (born December 12, 1944) is a Peruvian Afro-Cuban jazz drummer and percussionist.
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History
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 1967 he moved to 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, Chick Corea, Whitney Houston, Plácido Domingo, Phil Keaggy, Sam Phillips, former Weather Report bandmates Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Beck, Roberta Flack, U2 and Al Jarreau. In the 1980s Acuna also recorded and toured with the Christian jazz band Koinonia, which featured session musicians Abraham Laboriel, Justo Almario, Hadley Hockensmith, Harland Rogers, and Bill Maxwell. He played on Willy DeVille's Crow Jane Alley album. He has also worked as an educator at University of California, Los Angeles and Berklee College of Music.
Discography
- (1976) Black Market - Weather Report
- (1977) Heavy Weather - Weather Report
- (1992) Thinking of You - Alex Acuña and the Unknowns
- (2000) Acuarela de Tambores - Alex Acuña
- (2002) Los Hijos del Sol: To My Country - Alex Acuña
Awards
- "Best Latin/Brazilian Percussionist", Modern Drummer's Readers Poll.
