Billy Cobham

William Emanuel "Billy" Cobham (born May 16, 1944 in Panama) is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who permanently relocated to Switzerland during the late 1970s.

Coming to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Allmusic's reviewer claims Cobham is "generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer with an influential style that combines explosive power and exacting precision.

Early life and career
Born in Panama, Cobham's family moved to New York City during his early childhood. A drummer from his youth, Cobham attended New York's High School of Music and Art, graduating in 1962.

He played in a U.S. Army Band from 1965 to 1968. Following his discharge, Cobham joined an ensemble led by pianist Horace Silver for about a year, also playing or recording with saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, organist Shirley Scott, and guitarist George Benson.

Jazz fusion work
Cobham branched out to jazz fusion, which blended elements of jazz, rock and roll and funk, playing and recording with the Brecker Brothers (notably in their 1970-founded group Dreams), and guitarist John Abercrombie, before recording and touring extensively with trumpeter Miles Davis. Cobham's work with Davis appears on A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971), among other recordings.

Cobham is one of the first drummers to play open-handed lead: a drummer that plays on a right-handed set but leads with his left hand on the hi-hat instead of crossing over with his right (and also has his ride cymbal on the left side, instead of the traditional right). He typically plays with multiple toms and double bass drums and was well known in the 1970s for his large drum kits.

In 1970, Cobham worked on guitarist John McLaughlin's album My Goal's Beyond. McLaughlin and Cobham co-founded Mahavishnu Orchestra, a definitive jazz fusion ensemble. Cobham toured extensively from 1971 to 1973 with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, who released two studio albums The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) and Birds of Fire (1973) and one live album Between Nothingness and Eternity (1973). The original studio versions of tunes on the live album were later released as The Lost Trident Sessions in 1999.

In May 1973, while still with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cobham recorded his first solo album, Spectrum with keyboardist Jan Hammer, from the Mahavishnu Orchestra, guitarist Tommy Bolin, who later played with hard rock band Deep Purple, and bassist Lee Sklar.

Just before the Mahavishnu Orchestra's last touring leg, in late 1973, Cobham recorded and toured with guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, in concerts which featured material from their album Love Devotion Surrender (1973), and Cobham's own material.

As bandleader and composer, Cobham recorded a number of other ground-breaking fusion records during the '70s, Crosswinds (1974), Total Eclipse (1974) and A Funky Thide of Sings (1975). You can also hear his 1970s playing well represented on The Billy Cobham - George Duke Band: "Live" on Tour in Europe (1976). It was on this tour that Billy reported (in a Down Beat interview) experiencing astral projection during shows, wherein he found himself hovering above and in front of his drums, watching himself play in ways he'd never thought of or executed previously.

In the 1970s, Cobham recorded extensively for the fusion-oriented CTI Records, founded by producer Creed Taylor. Also during that period he was a member of the New York Jazz Quartet.

In 1976 Cobham played drums on the album To the Heart by Mark-Almond (Jon Mark, Johnny Almond).

1980s work and later


In 1980, he worked with Jack Bruce, in a band named Jack Bruce & Friends.

In 1984 he played in the band Bobby and the Midnites (which was the primary side project for Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead) with among others Dave Garland, Bobby Cochran, Kenny Gradney (of Little Feat) and recorded the album Where the Beat Meets the Street (1984).

In 1994, he joined an all-star cast at the Los Angeles Greek Theatre and the results appeared on 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 1998, he joined up with Grateful Dead cover band Jazz Is Dead.

A number of solo albums followed (as of July 2005, Cobham has released over 30 recordings under his own name), and continues to record, perform and teach.

In 2006, Cobham released Drum'n'Voice 2. This was a return to the 1970s jazz-funk sound, with guests including Jan Hammer, Buddy Miles, John Patitucci, Jeff Berlin, Dominic Miller, Mike Lindup, Airto Moreira, Frank Gambale, Brian Auger, Guy Barker and the band Novecento. The CD was produced and arranged by Pino and Lino Nicolosi for Nicolosi Productions.

Cobham was announced as a patron and visiting artist of top London drum college Drumtech in June 2008.

Billy Cobham received the award "Bratislav Bata Anastasijevic" at Nisville jazz festival 2008.

In 2009, Cobham released Drum'n'Voice 3. Guests included Chaka Khan, Gino Vannelli, George Duke, Alex Acuna, Bob Mintzer, Brian Auger, John Scofield and Novecento. The CD was produced and arranged by Pino and Lino Nicolosi for Nicolosi productions.

Billy Cobham performed with John McLaughlin at the 44th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland, on Friday, July 2, 2010, for the first time since the band split up.

As of March 2010, Cobham had begun working on a new project with acclaimed Jordanian guitarist Kamal Musallam.

In August 2011 the album Rock the Tabla was released. Featuring Billy Cobham, A.R. Rahman, Hossam Ramzy, Omar Faruk Tekbilek & Manu Katché.

In December 2011, Cobham began teaching drums online at the Billy Cobham School of Drums, a school within the ArtistWorks Drum Academy.

Equipment
Drums:

Billy Cobham is endorsed by Yamaha Drums and regularly uses Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute 9-piece kits with the following sizes:

24x16 bass drum (2x)

10x9 tom

12x10 tom

13x11 tom

14x12 tom

15x13 tom

16x16 tom

18x18 tom

Cobham has his own Yamaha signature snare model, consisting of an all maple 6-ply shell (14x6) with wood hoops, but he also uses a 14 x 6 1/2 Yamaha brass snare drum.

Cymbals:

Billy Cobham is endorsed by Sabian Cymbals. His current setup, as shown on Sabian's website, comprises of:

14" Vault Hats

16" Artisan Crash

18" Artisan Crash

20" Artisan Crash

22" Artisan Medium Ride

20" HHX Chinese

Heads:

Evans EMAD2 Clear (batter) and EMAD Reso on bass drums

Evans G2 Coated (top) and 200 (bottom) on snare drum

Evans EC2 (top) and G1 Clear (bottom) on toms

Sticks:

Vic Firth's Billy Cobham Signature Model (SBC)

Sampling
Cobham has been sampled by Massive Attack in their tune "Safe from Harm", centered on the beat and bassline of Cobham's "Stratus", from his debut album Spectrum (1973); by Souls of Mischief's "93 'til Infinity", based on the bassline and keyboards of "Heather", from 1974's Crosswinds, by DJ Shadow on "Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain", which uses elements of "A Funky Kind of Thing" from 1975's A Funky Thide of Sings and by The Underachievers in their song "The Mahdi", which samples Cobham's "Heather", again from 1974's Crosswinds. Cobham is also covered extensively by "hyperfunk" jam-band RAQ.

Filmography

 * 2002: Glass Menagerie
 * 2004: Live Palais des Festivals Hall Cannes 1989
 * 2005: Billy Cobham - Culturemix: New Morning Paris Concert
 * 2005: Billy Cobham - Drums for the Soul - Solo Concert - Drums and Percussion Paderborn
 * 2005: Billy Cobham's Glass Menagerie: Live in Riazzino
 * 2007: Billy Cobham Live at 60
 * 2007: Cobham Meets Bellson
 * 2007: Cobham: Crosswinds
 * 2009: Live in Cannes