Robert Patterson, was born on July 1st 1935, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. When his father changed his name to Rashied Ali, Robert Patterson Junior followed suit. Rashied Ali is a progenitor and leading exponent of multidirectional rhythms/polytonal percussion. Ali's mother sang with the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra and the entire family sang in their Baptist church. Saturated with music in his childhood, Ali later became a revolutionary jazz drummer who established a new kind of continuity.