Congas / Drums / Percussion

Alex Acuña

(1944–)

Peru

Alex Acuña (b. 1944) — Congas, Drums. Played on Black Market, Heavy Weather. Worked with Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter.

Peruvian drummer and percussionist; played on Weather Report's Heavy Weather, mixing Latin rhythms into the fusion sound.

Weather Report album featuring Alex Acuña

Black Market

Weather Report · 1976

Peruvian-born Alex AcuñaAlex Acuñaアレックス・アクーニャ joined Weather Report as percussionist in October 1975, switching to drums in April 1976 after Chester Thompson left, and remained until October 1977, contributing to Black MarketBlack MarketWeather Report · 1976 and Heavy WeatherHeavy WeatherWeather Report · 1977.

— Alex Acuna, Wikipedia, 2024

Alex Acuña's albums

Weather Report album featuring Alex Acuña

Heavy Weather

Weather Report · 1977

Alex AcuñaAlex Acuñaアレックス・アクーニャ played drums on Weather Report's 1977 Heavy WeatherHeavy WeatherWeather Report · 1977, recording Birdland alongside Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius and Manolo Badrena. The album became the first jazz-fusion record to sell a million copies.

— Heavy Weather (album), Wikipedia, 2024

Alex Acuña's albums

After leaving Weather Report in 1978, Alex AcuñaAlex Acuñaアレックス・アクーニャ moved to Los Angeles and became an in-demand session drummer and percussionist. In the 1980s he co-founded the instrumental jazz band Koinonia with Abraham Laboriel, Dean Parks and others.

— Koinonia (band), Wikipedia, 2024