He Marches to Beat of His Own Drum, Guitar, Trumpet . . . : Music: Alphonse Mouzon has never cared a whole lot for labels, but one thing you <i> can </i> call him is independent.

You may know him as the man who supplied polyrhythmic firepower for pianist McCoy Tyner’s first Milestone recordings, or as the guy who added percussive color and shading on the premier Weather Report record. Recently, though, he’s recognized more and more as a purveyor of relentless, funky backbeats for a series of albums under his own name.

Still, Alphonse Mouzon is quick to point out that he’s much more than just a drummer.

“I’m a drummer, sure,” the 42-year-old musician--who brings his band into the El Matador restaurant in Huntington Beach tonight--said in Los Angeles recently. “But I play trumpet, I play guitar, I play a lot of instruments. I produce and arrange my own music, I can orchestrate it, I can write for 50 or 100 pieces.”

Indeed, on Mouzon’s most recent recording--”As You Wish,” for which he wrote all the music--there are a number of tunes that sound as though they were played by a six- or seven-piece band but actually were recorded just by Mouzon (working a variety of electronic keyboards and percussion) and a saxophonist.

He promises more of the same--only better--on his next album, already being recorded.

“There are cuts with just me and (tenor saxophonist) Ernie Watts that sound like a big band,” Mouzon claims. “The tunes will be more energetic, more up-tempo, but still melodic, and the musicianship is more than a notch up.”

Another thing about Mouzon: Though his recent reputation is staked to a pop-oriented, instrumental direction, he doesn’t limit himself to a single type of music. A veteran of gigs with Al DiMeola, George Benson and Roberta Flack, he toured Germany earlier this year with a trio that concentrated on more traditional sounds.

“I went in and played what I know how to play without even breathing. We did Sonny Rollins tunes, some of (John) Coltrane’s, some of Miles’ and some of mine, the jazzy ones like ‘Come And Fly With Me’ from the ‘Early Spring’ album. And it sounded like ‘Trane and Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison. The Germans loved it.”

Obviously, Mouzon doesn’t worry much about how he’s labeled.

“There’s always going to be categories,” he realizes. “They’re always going to put you in a box and label you. Labels give people a synopsis of what you do, you know, brief statement: Jazz Guy. That’s why I don’t stick with just the drummer label. I’m more than that.

“In Germany,” he added, “they know I can do everything. When I come over, they don’t know what band I’m going to be with, whether its going to be jazz, or jazz-fusion or funk.”

Mouzon’s career took off after he moved to New York from his native South Carolina and began working with such notables as Roy Ayers, guitarist Gene McDaniels and bassist Miroslav Vitous. He played for the Broadway musical “Promises, Promises” at age 19.

His work with Wayne Shorter on the saxophonist’s “Odyssey of Iska” album, and with keyboardist Joe Zawinul and Vitous on singer Tim Hardin’s “Bird on a Wire” date, led to membership in the ground-breaking fusion band Weather Report in 1972. Soon afterward, he joined Tyner’s band, securing his reputation as a hard-hitting drummer with a seemingly endless supply of ideas.

“I liked the free-spirit kind of playing with McCoy. I could do what I wanted, he didn’t tell me what to play, and we were doing this very creative music.”

Temptation to move on presented itself one night in New York’s Village Vanguard, in the form of Miles Davis.

“Miles came down; he’d heard of me but hadn’t seen me play,” Mouzon said. He had just wrecked his Ferrari and was on crutches, and he started banging on my bass drum with his crutches, saying, ‘Oh, Alphonse, yeah!’ like he really enjoyed it. So he asked McCoy to trade me for his drummer--I believe it was Al Foster at the time.

“But I was faithful to McCoy. I heard Miles was tough on drummers and, although I could take care of myself, I didn’t want to deal with that kind of situation. So Miles came back the next night and said ‘I’m on your case’ and told me he’d make me a star and get me into the polls. But I managed to get into the polls anyway.”

Mouzon moved to Los Angeles in 1975, after his New York apartment was burglarized. “We went to see ‘Benji,’ and when we came back all my platform and leather shoes, all my leather suits were all stolen, even my baby pictures. And that really hurt. So I said that’s it and left.”

In Los Angeles, he continued working as a leader (his long-out-of-print “The Essence of Mystery” from 1973 is something of a funk-gospel classic) while playing with Herbie Hancock, among others.

Today, he operates his own production and publishing company, and says that handling his business affairs is a very important part of his career.

“If you don’t take full control, you’re going to get ripped off,” he says. “You can’t trust anybody in this business. There are too many snakes and shysters out there.”

He doesn’t feel this involvement takes away from the artistic side of his work.

“If it was affecting me musically and taking away from creativity, then I wouldn’t delve into the business aspect,” he says. “But you leave yourself open if you’re an artist and you don’t have the time for your own business.”

Besides, he added, “I love handling the business part. I’m not one to say I’ll let my manager take care of it. I make my own decisions.”

* A lphonse Mouzon plays with saxophonist Gary Meek, keyboardist Steve Bach and bassist Bruce Lett tonight at 8 at El Matador, 16903 Algonquin St., Huntington Beach. Admission: $12.50. Information: (714) 846-5337.