13 Facts About Alvin Fielder

Alvin Leroy Fielder Jr was an American jazz drummer.

Alvin Fielder was a charter member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Black Arts Music Society, Improvisational Arts band, and was a founding faculty member of the Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp.

Alvin Fielder's mother played the violin and piano; his father, Alvin Sr, played the cornet and was a pharmacist by profession.

Alvin Fielder initially learned the piano as a young child, but stopped and did not regain an interest in music until, at the age 12, he heard drummer Max Roach on record.

Alvin Fielder had drum lessons from Ed Blackwell while studying pharmacology at Xavier University of Louisiana, and then continued his degree at Texas Southern University while maintaining his musical development by taking lessons with local drummers and performing at night.

Alvin Fielder completed his pharmacology studies with a master's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In Chicago, Alvin Fielder played with Sun Ra during 1959 and 1960.

Alvin Fielder took responsibility for managing the family business, became involved in political activism, and continued to pursue his passion for music.

Alvin Fielder was instrumental in bringing many AACM and other musicians to Mississippi.

In 1975, Alvin Fielder began working with Kidd Jordan in what became the Improvisational Arts band, which featured various musicians over three decades, and appeared at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival every year from 1975 to 2008.

Alvin Fielder recorded in 1987 with Ahmed Abdullah, Charles Brackeen, and Dennis Gonzalez, and continued exploring in the free jazz vein in the 1990s with Joel Futterman, Kidd Jordan, and others.

In 2012, Alvin Fielder was awarded the Resounding Vision Award by Nameless Sound in Houston.

Alvin Fielder died, of complications from congestive heart failure and pneumonia, in Jackson, Mississippi, on January 5,2019.