Billy Cobham
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Cobham performing at WOMAD in July 2005
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Emanuel Cobham Jr. |
| Born | (1944-05-16) May 16, 1944 (age 80) Colón, Panama |
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| Instrument(s) | Drums, percussion |
| Years active | 1968–present |
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| Formerly of |
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| Website | billycobham |
William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1987[1] and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013.[2] AllMusic biographer Steve Huey said, "Generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer, Billy Cobham's explosive technique powered some of the genre's most important early recordings – including groundbreaking efforts by Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra – before he became an accomplished bandleader in his own right. At his best, Cobham harnessed his amazing dexterity into thundering, high-octane hybrids of jazz complexity and rock & roll aggression."[3]
Cobham's influence stretched far beyond jazz; he influenced progressive rock contemporaries like Bill BrufordofKing Crimson, and later ones like Danny CareyofTool. Prince and Jeff Beck both played a version of Cobham's "Stratus" in concert. Phil Collins, who named the Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame as a key influence on his early style, said: "Billy Cobham played some of the finest drumming I've ever heard on that record."
Born in Colón, Panama, Cobham moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York, when he was three. His father, Manuel, worked as a hospital statistician during the week and played piano on weekends. Cobham started playing drums at the age of four, and joined his father four years later. When he was fourteen, he got his first drum kit as a gift after being accepted to The High School of Music & Art in New York City.[4] He was drafted in 1965, and for the next three years he played with a U.S. Army band.[3][4]
After his discharge, he became a member of Horace Silver's quintet. He played an early model electric drum kit given to him by Tama Drums. He was a house drummer for Atlantic Records and a session musician for CTI and Kudu, appearing on the albums White RabbitbyGeorge Benson, SunflowerbyMilt Jackson, and Soul BoxbyGrover Washington Jr.[4]
Cobham started the jazz rock group Dreams with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Barry Rogers, and John Abercrombie.[3] He moved further into jazz fusion when he recorded with Miles Davis, appearing on Davis's albums A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and Big Fun. In 1971, he and guitarist John McLaughlin started the Mahavishnu Orchestra, another group that fused rock, funk, and jazz.[4] Cobham toured extensively from 1971 to 1973 with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, which released two studio albums, The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) and Birds of Fire (1973), and one live album, Between Nothingness & Eternity (1973). The studio versions of songs on the live album were released on The Lost Trident Sessions (1999).
Cobham's debut album, Spectrum (1973), surprised him and his record company when it reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Jazz Albums chart and No. 26 on the Top 200 Albums chart.[4] Cobham started experimenting with different drum equipment. In 1974 for Crosswinds he used a fiberglass-shell snare built for him by Al Duffy, and used Duffy's custom chain-drive bass drum pedal.[5][6] Cobham's massive drum kit in the mid-1970s, based on a clear acrylic set by Fibes Drums, contained two Fibes bass drums, a custom Duffy snare, two flared-shell rack tomsbyNorth Drums, four Fibes rack toms, two Fibes floor toms, two gong drums by Duffy customized by Cobham's drum roadie Jeff Ocheltree, a hi-hat, five Zildjian cymbals, and one hanging 36-inch gong.[7] This expansive kit and Cobham's dynamic style influenced later drummers.[8]
In 1980, he worked with Jack Bruce in Jack Bruce & Friends. For this group, Cobham used a very large custom drum kit designed for him by Tama Drums, featuring three bass drums with linked pedals, and three snares including a piccolo snare and a Hinger Space Tone expanding snare.[9][10][11] Cobham said this kit adapted to fit the music, and the music adapted to fit the kit – "a continual chicken–egg–chicken scenario."[9] On October 30, 1980, he joined the Grateful Dead during the band's concert at Radio City Music Hall. He performed a long drum solo session with the band's two percussionists, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, also known as the Rhythm Devils. In 1981, Billy Cobham's Glass Menagerie was formed with Michał Urbaniak on violin and EWI, Gil Goldstein on piano, Tim Landers on bass, and Mike Stern on guitar. Dean Brown replaced Stern when he left to play with Miles Davis. Glass Menagerie released two albums for Elektra Musician.
In 1984, he played in the band Bobby and the Midnites, a side project for Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, with Bobby Cochran and Kenny Gradney, and recorded the album Where the Beat Meets the Street.[12]
Cobham moved to Switzerland in 1985.[4]
In 1994, he joined an all-star cast Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and the results appeared on the album Stanley Clarke, Larry Carlton, Billy Cobham, Najee and Deron Johnson Live at the Greek. The concert was predominantly Clarke's music, but all the musicians contributed material.
In 2006, Cobham released Drum 'n' Voice 2, a return to the 1970s jazz-funk sound, with guests including Brian Auger, Guy Barker, Jeff Berlin, Frank Gambale, Jan Hammer, Mike Lindup, Buddy Miles, Dominic Miller, Airto Moreira, John Patitucci, and the band Novecento. The album was produced and arranged by Pino and Lino Nicolosi for Nicolosi Productions. In 2009, he released Drum'n' Voice 3. Guests included Alex Acuña, Brian Auger, George Duke, Chaka Khan, Bob Mintzer, Novecento, John Scofield, and Gino Vannelli.
Cobham plays his drums using the open-handed technique, which allows the player to play without crossing their right hand over the snare drum.
In December 2011, Cobham began teaching drums online at the Billy Cobham School of Drums, a school in the ArtistWorks Drum Academy.[13]
Many musicians have cited Cobham as an influence, including Kenny Aronoff,[14][15] Steve Arrington,[16] Ranjit Barot,[17] Danny Carey,[18] Jimmy Chamberlin,[19] Dennis Chambers,[20] Brann Dailor,[21] Matt Garstka,[22] Chris Hornbrook,[23][24] Thomas Lang,[25] Mac McNeilly,[26] OM,[27][28] Opeth,[29] Chris Pennie[30] Mike Portnoy,[31] Thomas Pridgen,[32] Sivamani,[33] Bill Stevenson,[34][35] Jon Theodore,[36] and Tony Thompson.[37]
In addition, other musicians have been quoted expressing admiration for his work, including Steven Wilson,[38] and Dave Bainbridge.[39]
With Stanley Turrentine
With Stanley Turrentine and Milt Jackson
With Mose Allison
With Gene Ammons
With Ray Barretto
With Roberto Tola
With George Benson
With The Brothers Johnson
With James Brown
With Kenny Burrell
With Cargo
With Ron Carter
With Stanley Clarke
With Larry Coryell
With Miles Davis
With Richard Davis
With Eumir Deodato
With Dreams
With Charles Earland
With Gil Evans
With Fania All Stars
With Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
With Peter Gabriel
With Johnny Hammond
With Billy Harper
With Donald Harrison
With Freddie Hubbard
With Jackie and Roy
With Milt Jackson
With Jazz Is Dead
With Quincy Jones
With Robin Kenyatta
With Hubert Laws
With Mahavishnu Orchestra
With Junior Mance
With Arif Mardin
With Les McCann
With John McLaughlin
With Mark-Almond Band
With Jimmy Owens
With Sonny Rollins
With Michel Sardaby
With Don Sebesky
With Horace Silver
With Carly Simon
With Lonnie Smith
With Gábor Szabó
With Leon Thomas
With McCoy Tyner
With Miroslav Vitous
With Randy Weston
With Jon Anderson
With Robby Steinhardt
When I first started playing with Mellencamp, I was trying to be Billy Cobham. [...]
I had no respect whatsoever for simple rock and roll drumming, I only liked heavy fusion and technical drumming like Billy Cobham [...]
[...] When I heard Cobham play, and I tell you this in retrospect: I'm a fan of every drummer on this planet. I think there are so many, so many great drummers out there that it's hard to create a list. But Cobham is a pioneer, for sure. Cobham is the closest I've heard a drummer playing with an Indian soul. He had the whole speech thing down. [...] Cobham, when he played, I could hear him talk. His snare drum, that's the heart of his language. He really had this speech happening on the kit. That's what stopped me in my tracks. Because I'd been listening to tabla players, and I said, Hold on. This guy, he understands. He understands where this whole thing is coming from. So he was probably the first big influence. And I just love everything he's done, man.
[...] I drew my influences from some of the more jazzier guys like Billy Cobham (John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis) [...]
Dennis Chambers: I keep my ideas fresh when I listen to people like Vinnie Colaiuta, Gary Husband, Lenny White and Billy Cobham
You must have a big list of drummer influences.
Brann Dailor: [...] for jazz, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, and Billy Cobham [...]
Emil Amos: [...] Musically, when we first met, the three things that we immediately in conversation bonded on was dub, Pink Floyd, and Billy Cobham, the great drummer.
Al Cisneros: [...] I think I was 17. I was at a friend's house and he was saying, 'I can't believe you haven't heard this.' Put it on, put it on. It was "Inner Mounting Flame," and on the song, "Awakening" the break with Billy Cobham on the kit...He throws down this one break after McLaughlin subsides these chords. It was so decisive that we just got up and left the room. There was no point in continuing conversation. It was done. That evening had been closed by that drumbeat. And to this day I think that in terms of drumming, "Inner Mounting Flame" with Cobham is Mount Olympus. There's nothing more. It's all. Saying Billy Cobham is a great drummer is like saying the sun's bright, but...I don't even know what to say about Mahavishnu. It was so humbling. It was an epiphany to hear the potential of these musicians and their conviction. Hearing something like that can make you feel like you've just been messing around in a sandbox your whole life.
There's an obvious fusion feel to a lot of the material on Heritage. Where did that come from?
Mikael Akerfeldt: [...] the fusion aspect comes from Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham... [...]
Q: Which players have most influenced that aspect of your style, especially with respect to the polyrhythms?
Chris Pennie: [...] Billy Cobham from the Mahavishnu Orchestra are important influences.
[...] when I was growing up played with so many different types of people, and did so many different styles. Everyone from Billy Cobham to Art Blakey [...]
I play drums as well, and I sometimes feel like it's almost impossible for a drummer to be truly great at playing both rock and jazz. Do you think you have to pick one of the two and focus on that?
Bill Stevenson: I think so. What I was trying to do was to be both. I reckon Billy Cobham is maybe the closest: He's the everyman's drummer, like he can playing everything better than everyone. And I felt like I was heading that directionmaybe I wanted to be Billy. [...]
I have to say that my all-time favorite guy ever is Billy Cobham. I even listen to The Traveler and Power Play, his '80s records. [...] I'm totally infatuated with him. I love the way he plays and I think it's so natural, powerful and dynamic at the same time. I pattern a lot of stuff after him.
[...] I would go down to 7th Ave. South. That was a club in New York City that The Brecker Brothers used to own. [...] I saw Billy Cobham for the first time and saw God. When they broke into "The Inner Mounting Flame," it was the most awesome performance I've ever seen in my life. My God, it's still embedded in my soul seeing him play like that. To have that command and power plus his chops were just super-human. Before that, I'd never seen anyone like Billy Cobham.
[...] Listen to Billy Cobham on a Mahavishnu Orchestra album. It's like a juggernaut heading towards a cliff edge. It has a feeling of momentum and rushing towards something.
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