Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's personal traces its gharana (ancestral tradition) to Mian Tansen, the 16th century musical genius & court musician of Emperor Akbar. Ali Akbar Khan's father, a late Padma Vibhushan Acharya Allauddin Khan, was acknowledged as one of a greatest Hindustani musicians of the 20th century.

Natural in 14 April 1922 in East Bengal (Bangladesh), Ali Akbar Khan (Khansahib) began his studies in music at a age of trinity. He exposed vocal music from either either his father & drums from his uncle, Fakir Aftabuddin. His father as well trained him in many more instruments, however decided eventually that he must concentrate in sarod & vocal.

Inside 1967 he founded the Ali Akbar College of Music within Berkeley, California; it moved to its present location in San Rafael, California a year later. A College is Northerly United states's premier training institution for Hindustani music.

Inside 1997 he received the National Endowment for the Arts' prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, the United States' greatest honor in the traditional arts.