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Don Alias (June 2000 Issue)
His Heartbeat Tour
Reaches The UKThough it took more than five years to become a
reality,
percussionist/drummer Don Alias's recent seven-city Heartbeat tour of
the United Kingdom proved to be well
worth the wait. The tour, which
kicked off at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in January, traveled to
sold-out venues
throughout England. It also gave Alias the opportunity
to work with such heavyweights as conga virtuoso Giovanni Hidalgo,
as
well as friends Michael Brecker (tenor sax), Randy Brecker (trumpet),
Gil Goldstein (piano), Mitch Stein (guitar), Carlos
Benavent (bass),
Steve Berrios (congas), and Alex Acu'a (drumset).
Most drummers would be happy to have
experienced just a few of
Don's career highlights, which include having played percussion on
Miles Davis's Bitches
Brew, Weather Report's Black Market, Tony
Williams' Ego, and Joni Mitchell's Mingus. But the Heartbeat
tour,
which was partially made possible by grants from The British Arts
Council and LP, gave the band the unique opportunity
to create music
with elements of Afro-Cuban, jazz, Latin, and free-form. Not
surprisingly, the majority of the songs were
written and composed by
the bandmembers themselves, and featured congas, timbales, bongos,
bata, and hand-held
percussion.
"Trying to get this group of masters together in one place was
not an easy task," Alias admits. "But as
soon as funding from the
British government materialized, everyone jumped at the chance to join
the band. They knew it was
going to be special."
In addition to a strong camaraderie among the group, there was
also a great deal of respect,
which could be heard and seen when they
performed. "All of those guys are the best at what they do, and are my
teachers,"
Don enthuses. "This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for
me, and I am grateful to all of them for making it a
reality."
Stephan S. Nigohosian
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