 rashied ali, born robert patterson (july 1, 1933 &ndash; august 12, 2009william grimes "rashied ali, jazz drummer, dies", new york times, 13 august 2009) was an american free jazz and avant-garde jazz drummer best known for playing with john coltrane in the last years of coltrane's life. ==biography== thumb|rashied ali at koncept cultural gallery, oakland ca 7/26/91 in duo with billy bang. photo by brian mcmillen ===early life=== patterson was born and grew up in philadelphia, pennsylvania; his family was musical: his mother had sung with jimmie lunceford. his brother, muhammad ali, is also a drummer, who played with albert ayler, among others. ali, along with his father and brother, converted to islam. starting off as a pianist he eventually took up the drums, via trumpet and trombone. he joined the united states army, and played with military bands during the korean war. after his military service he returned home and studied with philly joe jones. ===career=== ali moved to new york in 1963 and worked in groups with bill dixon and paul bley. in addition, ali was scheduled to be the second drummer, alongside elvin jones, on john coltrane's landmark free jazz album
1935_births 2009_deaths African-American_Muslims African-American_drummers American_Muslims American_jazz_drummers Cardiovascular_disease_deaths_in_New_York Converts_to_Islam DIW_Records_artists Deaths_from_myocardial_infarction John_Coltrane Musicians_from_New_York_City