How did you get started?
I started playing at age 4, and when I turned 10, I began professionally in my father’s orchestra alongside my brothers in Pativilca (Peru), a province in the department of Lima.
Which groups you’ve played with have left you with the best memories?
Pérez Prado’s orchestra in the ’60s, with which I came to the USA.
Weather Report in the ’70s.
Koinonia, Friendship and Al Jarreau in the ’80s
The Unknowns, Tolu, in the ’90s
Los Hijos Del Sol in the 2000s
Which musicians have influenced your playing the most?
All the great masters and composers of the earth, both classical and those of art music and popular music. The list is truly extensive; I’ll only name a few of my favorites.
Classical: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Stravinsky, etc...
Jazz: John Coltrane, Miles, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Jaco, Herbie Hancock, etc...
Flamenco: Paco de Lucía, Diego Amador, Carles Benavent, Tino di Geraldo, etc...
Latin: Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Eddie Palmieri, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Los Papines, etc...
Pop: Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, The Beatles, etc…
When did you start mixing drum set and percussion?
I always have. I never separated the drum set from percussion, and that shows in several drummer-percussionists who still play that way.
I would say the two complement each other immensely.
What are your latest recordings?
My own personal ones are “Acuarelas de tambores,” which was nominated for the 2000 Grammys. “Tolu” and “Los Hijos del Sol” were nominated for the 2002 Latin Grammy, and the latest, which is about to come out, is “Alex Acuña and the Unknowns,” released on my own label.
And your upcoming work plans?
Thank God I am always working, very steadily, both in my own recording studio and in others, and in general in various studios here in Los Angeles, where I live.
A few days ago we just recorded the latest CD by “Bobby McFerrin,” and I also do a lot of film score recordings for Hollywood movies, California, USA.
From time to time I go out on short tours. I mostly go out when it’s something very much my own and/or something where I share my music and my spiritual life.
In June (the 8th to the 12th) I’m going to Vienna, to a jazz club called “Zawinul Birdland” at the Hilton hotel in Vienna, Austria, with “Los Hijos Del Sol.”
Tell us about your drum kit and your cymbals. What brands and types do you use?
Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute 5-piece
Bass drum 22”
Toms 10” 12” 14”
Roy Haynes model – Snare
Cymbals: all Zildjian K Constantinople. 22” ride, 20” crash, 18” Azuka crash, 14” K hi-hats
Tell us about your experience with the Virtual Drummer School. What was it like recording the lessons?
I think it’s a magnificent idea to be able to share the wisdom of so many good masters of this art: the drums. I also know it will have a great future for immediate teaching, with excellent resolution both pedagogically and practically, which, if the world embraces it, will be of great advantage to the new generations.
Personally, I had a tremendous few days in Barcelona with Salvador Niebla and his production team. It was wonderful to have shared and recorded the lessons that are on the Internet. Also, once again, with Carles Benavent, a beautiful person and an excellent bass player in modern flamenco music.
What is your view of the Virtual Drummer School and of online teaching in general?
I think I already explained a little about this, but I’ll keep commenting on this great vision of Salvador and all his allies. Personally, I believe a lot in this form of teaching and I’m also recommending it through my website. Every time someone asks me about a lesson, I tell them to sign up for this virtual school. Bravo to Salvador and all of us who share in this new way of encouraging and showing certain volumes of our musical experiences.
Innovative and energetic, when he plays, he communicates from the heart!!!
About Alex Acuña
Alex Acuña was born and raised in Lima, Peru. A self-taught musician with a great musical gift from God, and inspired by his father and brothers (all of them musicians), he began playing drums and percussion at age 4, and then at age 10 began playing with the orchestra of his father and brothers, "Tropical Boys de los Hermanos Neciosup." Then at age 16 he became one of the most sought-after Peruvian musicians as a session player for various television programs, theater, films and record albums. Also performing as a live concert musician, he became a high-level musician-artist.
At age 18, Alex was hired by the famous Cuban musician Dámaso Pérez Prado to join his orchestra, and it was with Maestro Prado that Alex traveled to the United States for the first time.
He then studied music and percussion at the National Conservatory in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and also managed to perform with the San Juan Symphony at the famous Pablo Casals Festival.
In 1973, Alex traveled to Las Vegas and there began playing with the great stars of that era, including the great Elvis Presley and Diana Ross. Continuing through the different chapters of his great musical and artistic career, Alex became the percussionist and drummer of one of the best and most innovative modern jazz groups of our time: Weather Report, recording "Black Market" as percussionist and the famous all-time classic "Heavy Weather" as drummer.
Alex began living in Los Angeles, California, in 1978. He quickly earned the valuable position of session musician as percussionist-drummer on recordings and television programs and on background music for famous Hollywood films.
He has also received many awards and honors, which include, for 4 consecutive years: the Emeritus MVP award from the L.A. chapter of NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), and for 5 consecutive years he won the Modern Drummer magazine award for best "Latin/Brazilian percussionist-drummer."
Alex is credited with countless recordings and live performances with a great diversity of renowned artists in the entertainment world, and to mention a few of the best known, the list includes: Paul McCartney, U2, Al Jarreau, Ella Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell, Roberta Flack, Whitney Houston, Andraé Crouch, James Taylor, The Winans, Seal, Celia Cruz, Sergio Mendes, Milton Nascimento, The Brecker Brothers, Yellowjackets, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Los Papines, Ivan Lins, Chucho Valdés, Cachao, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Carlos Santana, João Bosco, Ednita Nazario, Juan Gabriel, Carlos Jobim, Julio Iglesias, Plácido Domingo, Luis Miguel, Koinonia, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Integrity Music Productions, and internationally with Ron Kenoly, Lionel Peterson and many more…
Alex has participated in recordings for more than 75 films, under the direction of the great composers of our time: Dave Grusin, Lalo Schifrin, Alan Silvestri, Michel Legrand, Bill Conti, Michel Colombier, Marvin Hamlisch, Maurice Jarre, Mark Isham, Randy Newman, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, John Williams and a long etc...
Alex is widely recognized and respected as a great teacher, clinician, seminar leader and demonstrator of new drum and percussion techniques, for which he has already recorded 4 instructional videos that are distributed internationally.
Sponsored by the companies Yamaha, Zildjian, Toca Percussion, Gibraltar, Evans, Vic Firth, and Audix speakers and microphones. Alex has also contributed creatively to new musical instrument designs for the percussion world, including several lines of sticks, mallets, brushes and a stick bag for Vic Firth, the "Azuka" line of cymbals for Zildjian, the Alex Acuña "Signature Timbales" model for Yamaha, his own "King Cajón" and the Peruvian-Flamenco cajón for Toca Percussion.
Alex’s South American roots, as well as his Caribbean ones, in addition to his knowledge of contemporary and classical music, classify Alex as a complete musician. This is evident on the records he has made as a soloist for JVC: "Alex Acuña and the Unknowns" (Pensando en Ti), for Tonga Productions: Tolu (Rumberos Poetry) and "Acuarelas de Tambores," a CD featuring him alongside the best percussionists of this generation, and in his productions of several CDs recorded in South America for the company Sony-Peru, "Los Hijos del Sol."
Next year also sees the market release of three CD-ROMs for Spectrasonics, distributed by Ilio, and a new CD with a Christian jazz group, "The Staff."
Alex’s style is characterized as innovative and energetic, a musician who communicates from the heart when he plays, and for these reasons he is acclaimed around the world and accepted, much loved, esteemed and appreciated by his fellow "musician-colleagues" of these times.
