“But to each of us gifts have been given, as God apportioned it”
Ephesians 4:7
In the Bible, the word “grace” literally translates into the word “gift”, as everything we have is part of God’s grace to us; it is his gift, something we don’t deserve to receive.
Drummer and percussionist Alex Acuna throughout his lengthy career has been the recipient of many such gifts, both musical and spiritual.
Coming to America from Peru, Acuna first started out playing with the famous orchestra of Prez Prado From there, he became a first call studio musician, backing artists ranging from Elvis Presley to Diana Ross.
For jazz fans, his big change came when he joined Weather Report, for arguably the halcycon days of that band with Jaco Pastorius, with his patented sound pulsating on albums Black Market and Birdland.
Since those days, Acuna has also had a spiritual awakening, reflected in his latest album Gifts, which includes aspects of his days with Weather Report as well as his musical, cultural and religious pilgrimage
We had a chance to catch up with Mr. Acuna, who, at 77 years old, sounds as enthusiastic in conversation as while playing.
WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
In Lake Balboa; the house I live in used to be owned by Bud Abbott (of Abbott and Costello)
DID YOU GROW UP LISTENING TO PERUVIAN MUSIC OR AMERICAN MUSIC?
When I was seven years old, in my neighborhood in Peru, we were so poor financially. I was one of eleven children. We didn’t have a radio, but there was a guy who had a 7-11 kind of store. He had a radio that had a program from 12 to 2 that had Chopin and all of the other genres of music. I listened to classical, Cuban, Brazilian, rock. Jazz in those days was Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey. This is the late 40s, early 50s.
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“I really believe that God used Perez Prado to bring me to the US to meet His Son Jesus, because I became a Christian after I left Weather Report”
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WHAT PERSUADED YOU TO PLAY PERCUSSION?
My father was a music teacher.
I have five older brothers, and he taught music to all of them. They started a band and were working all around making money for the family.
But my mother didn’t want me to be a musician. My brothers would leave to work on a Thursday, come back on a Monday, and so my mom wanted me to be something else, like a mechanic or a carpenter. In those days, music was not considered a profession.
He never taught me, but I was there watching as he was teaching my brothers. That’s how I learned.
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR FIRST JOB WITH PEREZ PRADO. THAT’S A BIG FIRST STEP!
When I was ten years old, my family auditioned me. My brother, the trumpet player, lived with his girlfriend. He was 17 and she was 15. In those days they married very young. They needed a drummer, and I told him I could play. He says, “I’ve never seen you play”.
So, I played for them, and they hired me.
That’s when my mom came out of the kitchen and said “You have to pay him the same amount of money that you guys are making!” She became my manager right there. (laughs)
My brothers started playing in the capitol city Lima. I was 15 and taking care of my mom, little sisters and nephew, but my brothers told me “Alex, you need to come to Lima; there aren’t many payers like you here.”
I was playing a little drums, piano and trumpet, all of the instruments that my brothers were playing. So I landed in Lima and by 16 I was working on the TV shows, and also recording every day. I was the house drummer for ODEON. They were like RCA in those days. So I started working like crazy.
On one of the TV shows, Perez Prado came by, and he saw me play. Immediately, he said to the manager “I want to bring that drummer to the US with me”. I was only 18, but he offered that to me. I got my passport and resident visa from Peru, my green card, already in those days.
I came April 3, 1964. I’ve never gone back to live; only to visit.
I really believe that God used Perez Prado to bring me to the US to meet His Son Jesus, because I became a Christian after I left Weather Report
SO YOU WEREN’T A CHRISTIAN AT THE TIME YOU CAME HERE?
No, I was a Catholic.
When I was 7 years old, working and listening to all of these kinds of music, I looked up into the sky and said “Somebody has to be up there, listening to me”, so I used to talk to Him. I then was establishing my relationship with the Almighty
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“I looked up into the sky and said “Somebody has to be up there, listening to me”, so I used to talk to Him. I then was establishing my relationship with the Almighty”
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LOOKING BACK, WHAT DID PRADO SEE IN YOU TO ORCHESTRATE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE’S PATH?
I never asked him if he saw God’s favor in my life. He saw the talent. When he offered to bring me to the United States, I said, “Mr Prado, the United States invented the drums, and have the best drummers in the world”
He asked me who I listened to, and I told him “Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich”. He said, “you’re right, but in my band I want the sound that YOU have. That’s why I’m bringing you to the US. “
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM BEING IN HIS BAND?
I was stationed in East LA, because I needed a place where I could live near the studio, and speak Spanish, as all of the Mexicans lived there.
The first thing I learned was about the economy.
I could spend a dollar a day, and have everything. One of the musicians rented me his house, his wife washed my clothes, and they’d make me breakfast, lunch and dinner for $25 a week.
I was making $1200 a month and only spending $100 staying at that place, so I’d send $1000 home to my mother every month. She saved it, so when I went back to visit, she had $10,000 saved up, which is like $200,000 today!
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“The first thing I felt here in America was love. I felt embraced by the industry, the musicians, by my peers. They accepted me and opened their arms”
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WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT AMERICAN AUDIENCES PLAYING IN THOSE DAYS?
The first job we had was at The Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. It’s still there.
Count Basie’s band was just finishing, and we were going to replace them. We had 3 days to rehearse beforehand. In those days, the bands were hired for about 3 weeks, playing every day.
We had to rent an apartment
My mom told me “The minute you get to the United States, and you get comfortable and start working, make sure you join the Musician’s Union. I did; Local 47 in Los Angeles
So, when I started in The Tropicana one of the drummers loaned me a drum set, because I didn’t own one yet.
They had a guard to bring me from my room to the stage and then back because I was only 18. I could not be in the casinos because I was under 21.
That’s the first thing I learned, because in Peru, you can do anything, anytime, anywhere! (laughs)
My mother told me “you have to respect everything. You have to obey the laws, you have to do nothing under the table. Make your yes “yes” and your no “no”, she’d say, because she was a Christian.
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“Music has three strong components; rhythm, melody and harmony. There can be a fourth part, improvisation, which is spontaneous composition.”
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WERE THERE ANY DIFFICULTIES?
The language was difficult. You have to be born in the US to really understand the language. It’s a tough one, the way it is written and pronounced.
YOU’VE PLAYED WITH ELVIS PRESLEY! WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?
My father, one time was in the airport with me, just hanging out and taking pictures with me. He had travelled a bit, as he was a Marine. He pulled me over and said, “Alex, I’m just going to tell you one thing, because I know where you are going and who you’re playing with. Don’t think about idols or stars like Elvis, because we’re all humans and when we go to the bathroom, we all use the same fingers” (laughs)
So I thought of that when I was playing with Elvis! (laughs) Because of that I never thought of these people like an extra terrestrial. It helped me keep a perspective about them, as I was so young.
The first thing I felt here in America was love. I felt embraced by the industry, the musicians, by my peers. They accepted me and opened their arms. They said, “Alex, you’re a good player; we’ll call you back”.
I’m 77 years old and still working full time.
Sometimes I play with the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl. I’ve done movies like West Side Story and Star Wars; all of those things. I also have my own studio here at home. I have an incredible family, and they ‘ve had an opportunity to finish college.
My oldest one, the boy, is 40. He owns 15 Jersey Mikes, and I now invest with him! Praise God!
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“Don’t think about idols or stars like Elvis, because we’re all humans and when we go to the bathroom, we all use the same fingers” (laughs)
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WERE YOU SURPISED TO BE CONTACTED BY WEATHER REPORT?
The first record that Weather Report made was in 1970.
When I heard it, I was living in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I was following all kinds of jazz at the time, and time my father told me something. He said, “Music has three strong components; rhythm, melody and harmony. There can be a fourth part, improvisation, which is spontaneous composition.” That came through when I heard the band. This is what my dad had talked to me about; all of the qualities of music were there. Nothing was missing!
I was able to understand the melody, the harmony, the rhythms and the improvisations of these guys. It changed my life.
I was still in the Conservatory in San Juan, working in the studios, but after hearing them I decided I wanted to return to the United States and play with this band.
It’s amazing how God does these things, because all of my desires and dreams came true through Him. He helped me persevere and make it soak through to my chest.
When I came back to Las Vegas in 1974, I became the drummer of the International Hilton, where I was playing with Elvis. I was the percussionist.
One night, I’m playing for Olivia Newton-John; she had just come from Australia,
These musicians came from New York, and the percussionist, Don Alias noticed my playing with her. He saw me play drums for her and percussion for the Temptations.
He waited for me after the show, and said, “I don’t know many people who play drums and percussion at that level. People told me about you in Puerto Rico. “ We became friends, and he showed me the record that he did with Jaco Pastorious.
After we played a little bit in California, Colorado and Texas, we separated, and Joe Zawinul called me.
“Alex, this is Joe Zawinul. Do you want to play with my band?” I thought someone was kidding me.
“When?”
“Anytime”
“I’m In!”
He came to Las Vegas to meet me. He stayed at Caesar’s Palace. We went out to see BB King at the Hilton. I took him through the back door, the Musician’s Entrance. BB knew who he was.
Joe said, “BB, I’d like to play with you some day”
BB said, “Are you kidding? You’ve played with Miles Davis and Cannonball”
Joe answered, “Yeah. but I love how you play the blues”.
After that, Joe hired me to come to Los Angeles to rehearse for a week at Frank Zappa’s studio. He told me “Bring your passport and clothing. We’re going to Europe for three months”
HOW DID IT GO?
One of the first concerts I did with them is actually on Youtube. It’s from 1975 at the Philharmonic in Berlin. I was playing percussion. Every night was amazing, every dream came true.
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“Wayne Shorter came to me and said, ‘Alex, if I were to play percussion, I would play it the way you do’”
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IT’S LIKE THAT BIBLE VERSE , “DO YOU KNOW A MAN WHO EXCELS IN HIS FIELD? HE WILL PERFORM BEFORE KINGS”
Yes, that verse is true.
DID JOE GIVE YOU ANY PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS?
We rehearsed for five days.
He asked me “Do you know our music?”
I told him “I know every song.”
Of course he had new music. He played it and I listened. I was very impressed.
They always had different bass players and drummers, almost with every album.
According to them, I fit in.
Wayne Shorter came to me and said, “Alex, if I were to play percussion, I would play it the way you do”
I asked him “Does that mean I’m hired?
He laughed “Of course” (laughs)
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“Jaco pulled up the seven pages, and put on his glasses to read the music. He read it, and the first take is the one that you hear on the album”
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THE FIRST DRUMMER WAS ALPHONSO JOHNSON. DRUMMERS LINK IN WITH THE BASS PLAYER, SO WAS IT A MAJOR TRANSITION WHEN JACO PASTORIOUS JOINED THE BAND?
I had already played with Don Alias, and he had recorded with Jaco. I first heard him on that album with Don, and I was amazed. I had never heard a bass player sound like that. It was like a Rhodes piano. I thought he was playing everything.
“No,” Don said, “That’s just the bass player” (laughs)
When they were auditioning bass players, Alphonso got a deal with a record company, He wanted to write and prepare for his own album.
They were testing many bass players from all over. I told them that I have Jaco’s number, so we called him up.
Don Alias came with Jaco, who brought his first solo record with him. He threw one to Joe, who was by the consul in the studio. He threw it like a Frisbee.
Joe looked at it. “It’s great that you have your own record. I see Herbie Hancock is on your record. I’ll give it a listen.”
Jaco said, “I don’t want to audition”
Sp they sat and wrote music for him. It was the song on Black Market, “For Cannonball”.
***Jaco pulled up the seven pages, and put on his glasses to read the music.
He read it, and the first take is the one that you hear on the album.
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“(Prez Prado) asked me who I listened to, and I told him ‘Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich’. He said, ‘you’re right, but in my band I want the sound that YOU have. That’s why I’m bringing you to the US.'”
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HIS ENTRANCE IS LIKE SOMEONE WHO PARACHUTES IN OUT OF NOWWHERE. WHERE DID HE JUST COME FROM?
(laughs)j. Exactly. He was a complete musician. He was able to sight read and he remembered everything.
He knew his music. He listened to everything.
So they hired him to go on tour with them. Jaco and I stayed in the same room, because in those days Weather Report didn’t have enough money to book us two rooms.
I asked him “Who are the bass players that you listen to?”
He said Ron Carter, Cachao (the Cuban bass player) and Andy Gonzales from New York. He played a reel to reel of Andy Gonzales.
After the first rehearsal, we go back to our room, and he takes his bass out, with the neck touching the door, so he could hear its resonance. He didn’t want to play it too loud at night to bother the other people. He was Mister Music.
I had my brushes, and I went to the table. We started playing all of the Miles Davis tunes, and he , so
I told him I’ve been listening to jazz like you do.
He said, “Let’s get up tomorrow morning, go into the studio early and just play drums and bass before the rehearsal”. The rehearsal was at noon, so we got there at ten.
Zawinul comes in while we were playing. I was playing on (current drummer) Chester Thompson’s drums, and he’s taller than I am, so the drums are up to my face.
He couldn’t see me, so he asked “Who’s playing drums?” He leans over to see me and says, “Alex! I didn’t know you played drums!”
I told them that I didn’t want to interfere with Chester, who was the drummer. I was just rehearsing.
Jaco then said, “I want Alex to play drums in the band. Chester and I have two different languages. He plays more like Billy Cobham; I want someone who plays more like Tony Williams, like how Alex plays.
Joe says, “But we can’t fire him right now; he’s rehearsing to go with us on the road. But Alex can bring his drums along and can switch in and out on stage when we play”.
But Jaco insisted, “No, only Alex plays the drums”. WOW
So they had to fire Chester.
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“I was able to understand the melody, the harmony, the rhythms and the improvisations of these guys. It changed my life”
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THAT MOVE DIDN’T EXACTLY RUIN HIS CAREER.
He ended up playing with Phil Collins! I called him up and told him that he got a better paying gig than I had! (laughs)
I SAW THIS BAND BACK IN 1975. YOU WERE WITH BADRENAS ON DRUMS. HOWEVER, DURING THE WHOLE SET, JACO SEEMED OUT OF IT. YOU SAID YOU BECAME A CHRISTIAN AROUND THIS TIME. WAS THERE A SPIRITUAL ELEMENT GOING ON AT THIS TIME?
That’s a very perceptive question.
I found out that Jaco was raised Catholic. When he grew up, his father was a drunk, a womanizer and abusive.
He told me one day at 6:00 in the morning. He took me out to breakfast and told me his story.
“Alex, when I was 3, I saw my father abuse my mother. I was scared, hiding behind the door.”
I was very familiar with that kind of attitude, as I came from a very big, but dysfunctional, family. I understood him; he started crying. I embraced him, and it was like a deliverance for him. He was able to confess and get it out of his system.
He said “My mother never wanted me to become a musician; she never backed me up or see me play. But she’s coming to see me perform for the first time when we come to Florida.’
In those days, Jaco was doing nothing. No drugs, no womanizing. He was clean. He was running, jogging, playing basketball to prepare for his mom’s arrival.
She stayed for the concert and came back stage. She looks exactly like him; the same face, and she’s looking for him.
They hugged each other for about 30 minutes, crying. This was the first time that she told him “I love you, Jaco. I love the way you play.”
Jaco cried even more with all of the people looking around.
That was like Jaco’s deliverance, and after that he got into drugs and everything else.
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“(My mother) said, ‘If you don’t talk about it right now, tomorrow I’m packing my luggage and leaving back to Peru. Because God is bigger than you’”
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DID THAT EFFECT YOU, OR WAS THERE SOMETHING ELSE THAT INSPIRED YOUR FAITH?
God calls you with many signs.
The first one was my mother.
She came to visit me after the tour with Weather Report. I was living in Las Vegas, and she came to visit me. She was 82-83.
One night, she noticed that I had changed. According to her, I wasn’t spiritual enough. I’d be late, always playing, making excuses.
One time I came home at 6 in the morning. She was at the door waiting for me. She told me she wanted to talk to me tonight after dinner.
That night, after dinner, she asked me “So, how is your spiritual life? Where is God in your life”
“Oh, mom, don’t start with that, saying this and that” I didn’t want to talk about it.
She said, “If you don’t talk about it right now, tomorrow I’m packing my luggage and leaving back to Peru. Because God is bigger than you”
She talked to me right up to my face, and she’d never done that before.
That was the first call.
WHAT WAS THE NEXT CALL?
We moved to California in 1978, and all I wanted to see was the TV show PTL (“Praise The Lord”) in the evenings.
I was working between Weather Report and Diana Ross at this time.
Diana took us to some place in Texas. We were at a discotheque, and I found a drummer there for the band. I started talking to him. He invited me to his house.
He was having a BBQ the next day.
When I got there, he was playing a cassette of Andre Crouch and His Disciples at London. I had never heard music like that before in my life.
I asked him “Who Is This?”
The only thing that I was able to understand in the singing was the name of Jesus. (Imitates groove) “bip bop digga digga digga digga “JESUS” bip bop digga digga digga digga”
I got a copy of it, and am listening to it on the airplane with my boom box all the way in the back, at a very low volume. Diana Ross is at the front of the plane.
She turns around and says “Who’s playing that music back there?!?”
She comes back and sits by me.
I aske her “Do you like it?”
“I was raised Baptist” she said. “Everyone was raised Baptist in those days” (laughs)
So by 1978 I felt called by the Lord through my mom, that cassette and talking with Diana.
I finished Weather Report, but told them I would stay in LA as a studio musician in order to receive a steady check. They understood.
One night I was listening to Heavy Weather at about 3 in the morning, thinking how great that band sounded, suddenly there was absolute silence. It was in my subconscious, and I heard a voice…
“Alex, you haven’t talked to Me for so long. I know you need Me now; would you like to be here with Me now, or would you like to go to the other side? Do you want to step away?”
I said, “No, Lord. You’ve changed my life. I’m staying with You”
So, at 3:00 in the morning in Sylmar I asked Him into my life”
Now, back in those days there were no Hispanic churches, so I went to Church on the Way, with pastor Jack Hayford.
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“I had never heard a bass player sound like that. It was like a Rhodes piano. I thought he was playing everything”
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AND TRUMPETER SNOOKY YOUNG!
And many other great players! Michael Omartian, Abraham Labriel …Chester Thompson came to the Lord there, too! The guitar player Paul Jackson Jr. When we did music like things for Christmas, it was like Radio City!
Oh! I learned so much there about the Lord. And Diana, my wife who is American, one day said to me “I don’t think you’re understanding the messages.”
First, I didn’t’ understand English that well. Then, I didn’t understand Pastor Jack’s sermons too well, and I also didn’t understand the Bible yet. It was all flying by me.
So she started making notes for me, describing the messages.
We got involved with the music, playing and she was in the choir as well as a concert pianist.
WHAT WERE THE BIG THINGS YOU WERE LEARNING AT THIS TIME THERE?
Another pastor came and he had a class for couples that needed healing of the soul. My wife asked me if I’d like to go with her.
We had to study for about seven months and take a program.
Chester Thompson and his wife became our partners in the program.
It was there that I went through a deliverance.
In Exodus 20:4-6, it says “Do not make any idols, because I am a jealous God and will visit the iniquity on those who fault me to the parents of the third and fourth generations, but I will BLESS for a thousand generations to the ones that love me and keep my commandments.”
I asked the pastor what this really meant, to the different generations.
He said, “Do you know your grandparents? No. Great grandparents? No. So you don’t know your ancestor’s sins, their cultural sins of past generations. Personal sins. Why don’t you ask your parents what happened in your family in the past.” He knew that I left my country very early.
I went and asked my parents. My mom told me about all of the sexual immoralities and even witch craft. The devil had the whole family in his grasp.
NOT TO MENTION THE CHILD SACRIFICES OF THE INCAS AND MAYANS
YES! All of that ancestral sin. It has to be broken by the Lord.
I worked in this ministry for 7 ½ years. I helped plant churches in Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Venezuela. He changed my life.
But the main thing was that my whole family came to the Lord. My father was the last one to come to the Lord at 91 years old!!
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“I used to wonder why Elvin Jones and John Coltrane had such a musical attraction, and then I saw this and realized that it was the Spirit of God”
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YOU ARE MINISTERING THROUGH YOUR LIFE AND MUSIC
The Bible mentions in Samuel all of the musicians that are ministering at the Temple. Music is very powerful. Music is a very special spiritual tool, especially in this present time, but for all time. Everyone needs the Lord.
IS THERE ANY BOOK THAT HELPED GUIDE YOU DURING YOUR LIFE?
I love Pastor Jack’s book Penetrating the Darkness. Another one is Prayer is Invading the Impossible.
IS THERE ANYONE, LIVING OR DEAD, WHO YOU WOULD LIKE TO SIT DOWN AND PICK HIS OR HER BRAIN FOR AN EVENING?
John Coltrane.
I have all of the formats of his music. His Blu-Ray opens with a church, and he is being baptized! His father was a priest. Elvin Jones is in the audience with his wife. The Jones family were deacons.
I used to wonder why Elvin Jones and John Coltrane had such a musical attraction, and then I saw this and realized that it was the Spirit of God.
WHAT FUTURE GOALS DO YOU HAVE?
I love the way my life is right now. I’m enjoying my family; they are very successful. My kids own something like 15 Jersey Mikes. They’re all in love with the L ord. They all married believers and have faithful grandchildren and are going to Christian schools. We go to the lake with boats, have BBQ and a lot of prayer. Everyone plays an instrument. So, I’m having fun!
PARTICULARLY DURING THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON, IT IS ENCOURAGING TO SEE THAT GOD STILL COMES INTO OUR LIVES AND DIRECTS OUR PATH. WE MAY NOT REALIZE AT FIRST, HOWEVER. JUST LIKE THE FIRST CHRISTMAS, GOD’S PRESENCE WAS MOSTLY IGNORED BY THE WORLD. NONE ARE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE.
BUT GOD IS IN THE BUSINESS OF CHANGING HEARTS, AND BY HIS GRACE HE TURNED ALEX ACUNA’S HEART FROM ONE OF STONE TO FLESH. IT NOT ONLY IMPACTED HIM, BUT HE’S ABLE TO RADIATE GOD’S LOVE TO HIS FAMILY AND FELLOW MUSICIANS. LET EVERY HEART PREPARE HIM ROOM.