Artist: Jamaaladeen Tacuma

Jamaaladeen Tacuma is an American free jazz  bassist born in  Hempstead, New York. He was a  bandleader on the  Gramavision label and worked with Ornette Coleman during the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in Coleman's Prime Time band. 

Tacuma showcased a unique style of avant-garde jazz on Coleman's 1982 album Of Human Feelings, and became widely viewed as one of the most distinctive bassists since Jaco Pastorius. He formed his own group, and recorded albums that incorporated commercially accessible melodies while retaining Prime Time's elaborate harmonies. 

Tacuma's work with Prime Time landed him his most high-profile gig to date: an appearance with the band on Saturday Night Live on April 14, 1979, which Tacuma later cited in Musician magazine as his "best live performance ever". Besides the work with such musicians as James "Blood" Ulmer, Walt Dickerson,  Chuck Hammer, and David Murray, he collaborated with the upcoming artists of the New York  Downtown scene like Kip Hanrahan, David Moss, Bill Laswell  and Anton Fier (The Golden Palominos, 1983) that further heightened his reputation. Tacuma's first solo album, Show Stopper, came in 1983 on the  Gramavision label; the album grew out of the jazz-funk style he developed in his work with Coleman. His other works as leader at Gramavision followed that formula. 

In the 1980s, he started to perform in a relatively straightforward funk/R&B setting with his group Cosmetic. He was frequently featured in music magazines thanks to his aggressive, driving playing style and his angular fashion sense.

Since the early 1990s, he has remained active but has maintained a lower profile. He has made numerous solo and collaborative recordings, including several CDs of duets with saxophonist  Wolfgang Puschnig. 

In 2007, he joined with Weston and guitarist Vernon Reid (known for his work in Living Colour and with  Ronald Shannon Jackson) to form the power trio Free Form Funky Freqs.