Stone Alliance

Stone Alliance formed around saxophonist Steve Grossman, bassist Gene Perla, and drummer-percussionist Don Alias. Like Weather Report, Lifetime, and Return to Forever, the ensemble belonged to the wave of 1970s jazz supergroups. Its origins trace to 1964, when Perla entered Los Muchachos of Boston, a band already containing Alias. Years afterward in New York City, the pair encountered Grossman during loft rehearsals and created the initial Stone Alliance lineup with him. The three musicians first appeared together on Grossman's debut solo album Some Shapes to Come, issued in 1973. Grossman and Alias had previously worked extensively in Miles Davis' group both in the studio and on the road. In 1975 the trio issued its self-titled album on P.M. Records, the label Perla had established; pianist Jan Hammer, who had also played on Grossman's earlier record, contributed to the engineering. One track, "Sweetie Pie," later supplied the sample for rap group Original Flavor's hit single "Blowin' Up da Spot." The band's style fused Afro-Cuban and funk rhythms with rock and pop touches, anchored by Grossman's often torrential solos. Between 1976 and 1980 it produced four studio albums and four live sets. After an extensive European tour the original configuration disbanded, yet Alias and Perla soon reassembled the project. Subsequent personnel included keyboardists Mark Gray, Kenny Kirkland, and Kenny Werner, along with saxophonists Jerry Bergonzi and Bob Mintzer. Following a lengthy break, Stone Alliance resumed activity in the mid-1990s as a trio of Alias, Perla, and guitarist Mitch Stein.