His collaborators included John McLaughlin, Béla Fleck, Ravi Shankar, Herbie Hancock, Yo-Yo Ma and members of the Grateful Dead.

Zakir Hussain, an Indian classical musician who has been called 'the greatest tabla player of his generation,' has died at age 73 of lung disease.

Zakir Hussain, virtuoso of the tabla instrument and a towering figure in Indian classical music, died on Dec. 15 of chronic lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, at a hospital in San Francisco. He was 73.