Ralph MacDonald

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Ralph Anthony MacDonald (born March 15, 1944 in New York City , † December 18, 2011 in Stamford , Connecticut ) was an American drummer and composer .

Life

MacDonald was in 1944 in New York's Harlem , the son of of Trinidad coming Calypso musician Patrick MacDonald born, who under the stage name Macbeth the Great was known. That is why Ralph MacDonald came into contact with Caribbean music as a child. He learned to play the conga from his uncle Boug . When he was fourteen he began playing steel drums in a band at a Harlem youth club.

After he had gotten into contact with Harry Belafonte's band as a teenager through a friend and was often present at their rehearsals, he finally got the opportunity to prove his skills due to the illness of a drummer. This began a ten-year engagement with Belafonte, which brought him together with the arranger and conductor William Eaton and the bassist William Salter . In 1966 he composed the pieces on the Calypso Carnival album for Belafonte , using some of the material his father had already used. At the age of 27, Ralph MacDonald founded the music publisher Antisia Music together with William Salter and Wiliam Eaton . Almost two years later Roberta Flack recorded the piece Where Is the Love , written by him and Salter , which gave the publisher its final breakthrough with ten million recordings sold.

MacDonald later worked with musicians such as James Taylor and Carly Simon ("Mockingbird"), Billy Joel , Bette Midler , Diana Ross and Paul Simon , in the field of jazz with Rahsaan Roland Kirk , Ron Carter , Paul Desmond , Randy and Michael Brecker , David Sanborn and Grover Washington Jr. together.

For the 1979 Grammy- winning soundtrack for the film Saturday Night Fever , he contributed the piece Calypso Breakdown as a self-producing artist . In 1982 he received a Grammy for composing the hit Just the Two of Us by Grover Washington, Jr. and Bill Withers .

Ralph MacDonald performed as a musician until the end of the 2000s and released new albums, most recently in 2008 Mixty Motions . He died of lung cancer in December 2011.

In an interview with the British Times , MacDonald said that he had never regretted having remained relatively unknown despite his achievements: “ I don't want to be a superstar. Above all, I'm a musician first. "

Discographic notes

  • Sound of a Drum (LDC, 1976)
  • The Path (Marlin Records, 1978) with Michael Brecker, David Sanborn, Bob James
  • Surprize! (Polygram Records 1985) et al. a. with Marcus Miller and Eric Gale

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Death report
  2. ↑ http://www.panonthenet.com/spotlight/2007/rm/rmd.11.21.2007.htm
  3. ^ Obituary in The New York Times
personal data
SURNAME MacDonald, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES MacDonald, Ralph Anthony (full name); MacDonald, Dollar (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American drummer and composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 2011
Place of death Stamford , Connecticut