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Billy Cobham

It is a rarely known fact that he was at the forefront of the electronic music industry and it’s development through Jazz. He was one of the first percussionists, along with Max Roach and Tony

Williams to utilize the Electronic Drum Controller made in 1968 by the Meazzi Drum Company in Milano, Italy while on concert tour with Horace Silver in Europe. He is one of the few Percussionists, specializing in the Jazz drum set to lead his own band. The award winning Cobham has custom designed trend setting acoustic and electronic drum sets and has endorsed products that he created and refined.

He has performed on hundreds of records with his own groups and with some of the music’s most luminary artists, and his trademark - biggest, fastest, explosive drumming - has energized the international stages of concerts, symphonies, big bands, Broadway, festivals, television and video. He has been a teacher of his artistry, giving drum clinics, conducting workshops and symposiums throughout the world. His stylistic influence, which has literally created a category of music, is an outstanding part of the history of modern music.

Since 1980 Billy Cobham has been dividing his time between his home in Zurich and the United States where he lived in New York City and northern California until that time, underscoring his unique internationally influenced origins as a musician. Born 5/16/44 in Panama, surrounded by talented parents and a brother, Wayne (producer, horn player, midi specialist, writer), Billy’s love for drums was kindled by his cousins who played and constructed steel drums and congas in Panama. Some of his earliest memories are of himself playing Timbales.

The Cobhams moved to New York City in 1947, when Billy was 3 years old. He had his stage debut in performance with his father at the age of 8. Cobham developed his seriously voracious appetite for drumming in the highly competitive Drum and Bugle Corps. arena with St. Catherine’s Queensmen, prompting him to attend New York’s famed High School of Music and Art to study music theory and drum technique with seminars by such renowned talents as Thelonious Monk and Stan Getz. Cobham remembers "In those days, Jazz was a bit off-limits to students while classical music was preferred by the education establishment. So, of course students craved to meet jazz artists.

Johnny "Hammond" Smith: Wild Horses Rock Steady

by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
November 3, 2024

Born John Robert Smith on December 16, 1933 (in jny: Louisville, KY), formerly known as Johnny Hammond Smith, and later as Johnnny Hammond, one of the all-time best jazz organists passed away on June 4, 1997, in jny: Chicago, Illinois. For some of his early fans, some of the best albums he recorded were done for Prestige in the Sixties. A younger generation, who grew up listening to the hip-hop influenced jazz sounds of the 1990s, prefers Johnny's over-produced sessions ...

Radio & Podcasts

A look back at 1975 with Miles Davis, John Abercrombie and Billy Cobham

by Len Davis
March 10, 2024

Some hard-edged music from Miles Davis's Agharta, John Abercrombie and Jan Hammer's Timeless and Lenny White's Venusian Summer. Billy Cobham's Shabazz and the funky sounds from Herbie Hancock's Manchild. The powerful sounds of The Mahavishnu Orchestra's Visions Of The Emerald Beyond, Return To Forever's No Mystery and Stanley Clarke's Journey To Love. Playlist Miles Davis “Prelude 2" from Agharta (CBS) 00:00 John Abercrombie “Lungs" from Timeless (ECM)08:09 Lenny White “Mating Drive" from Venusian Summer (Nemperor) 16:21 Billy Cobham ...

Reassessing

The Electric Years Box Set

by Mike Jurkovic
November 9, 2023

In a year that has brought us a true bounty of previously unheard majesty including Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy (Impulse!), and Bill Evans; Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969), (Elemental Music) it is only fitting that Miles Davis get his due. And in a very, very big way. Seared into modern memory, modern art, the music presented on the gloriously massive, eleven LP set Miles Davis: The Electric Years ...

Liner Notes

Larry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years

by Josef Woodard
February 6, 2023

There have been many smoother operators in the world of jazz guitar than Larry Coryell, the brainy rough rider who was a natural-born fusioneer, in the best sense. There have been cleaner technicians on the instrument, with a more lucid sense of identity and careers that have followed a logical, rolling landscape. But not many have quite attained Coryell's strange, madly eclectic state of grace: into music he came, he saw and heard things not yet articulated, he conquered on ...

Live Review

Billy Cobham's Crosswinds Project at the Gothic Theater

by Geoff Anderson
October 3, 2022

Billy Cobham's Crosswinds Project Gothic Theater Englewood, COSeptember 24, 2022 “Age ain't nothin' but a number." That's a common mantra chanted by the militantly aging. “Everything wears out." That's a quote from a wise auto mechanic. When those two concepts meet: CRASH! Saturday night, drummer Billy Cobham demonstrated exactly how to skirt any potential wreckage and carry on despite the inevitable deterioration wrought by Father Time. At age 78, Cobham has ...

Album Review

Rob Silverman: Drumology Volume 2

Read "Drumology Volume 2" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
September 18, 2022

It would appear that Rob Silverman is on to something. With Drumology (Autumn Hill Records, 2020) having made some noise, Silverman powers on to Drumology Volume 2. Brother and keyboardist Michael Silverman returned to the scene along with bassist Larry Kornfeld, and keyboardist Jay Oliver, to join drummer Silverman as the core quartet of musicians. The brothers wrote eight pieces of music that were cultivated from a drummer's perspective. Every song is tailored to take advantage of the particular skill ...

In Pictures

Billy Cobham Quartet and the Gustav Brom Radio Big Band at Symphony of Art in Bratislava

by Peter Hladký
September 25, 2021

Legendary fusion drummer Billy Cobham and his quartet performed at the multi-genre festival the Symphony of Art in Bratislava together with the Gustav Brom Radio Big Band on September 11, 2021. Cobham's quartet—comprised of Steve Hamilton, Ulf Wakenius, and Fifi Chayeb (bass)—along with the Gustav Brom Radio Big Band dazzled with compositions including “Panama," “A Days Grace," “Sweet Bocas," and “Cancun Market."—all from Broad Horizon, a 2016 recording with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. The concert concluded with the iconic ...

Book / Magazine

Rave Reviews For New Book On The Life And Work Of Jazz Fusion Legend Billy Cobham

Source: Brian Gruber
January 3, 2019

Few musicians have transformed a genre like Panama-born, New York-raised Billy Cobham. Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation is a one-of-a-kind oral history of a legend’s life work. From his early days with Horace Silver and Dreams to the epochal Bitches Brew sessions with Miles Davis to the breakthrough Mahavishnu Orchestra and beyond, here is a first-ever deep dive into six decades of musical innovation. The book’s setting is six days ...
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Event

Billy Cobham's Spectrum 40 Spring USA Tour And CD Release, Spectrum 40 Live

Source: Nancy Balik
February 27, 2015

JAZZ FUSION VIRTUOSO BILLY COBHAM ANNOUNCES SPRING 2015 TOUR OF SPECTRUM 40 SHOW AND RELEASE OF LIVE CD World-class jazz fusion drummer Billy Cobham announces his Spring 2015 USA Spectrum 40 Tour, in conjunction with the release of the double CD recording, Spectrum 40 Live. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Cobham’s breakthrough album, Spectrum—widely regarded as one of the genre’s most influential works— the upcoming performance series and CD set feature Cobham’s explosive, complex style of play supported by the ...
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Recording

Billy Cobham To Release Two Live Albums From 1992 Tokyo Concert

Source: Glass Onyon PR - William James
February 21, 2015

Los Angeles, CA – Much to the excitement of drummers and jazz aficionados worldwide, drum legend Billy Cobham will be releasing two live albums on Cleopatra Records. The first is Mirror's Image on February 17 (CD & VINYL), followed by Reflected Journey on April 28 (CD). The albums are two parts of the same show recorded in Tokyo on February 15, 1992 What an amazing career Billy Cobham has had. From his auspicious start in the late '60s touring and ...
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Recording

Drum Legend Billy Cobham Launches Previously Unreleased 1997 Live Album Compass Point

Source: Glass Onyon PR - William James
July 2, 2013

Los Angeles, CA – In 1997, legendary jazz/fusion drummer Billy Cobham flew to New Providence in the Bahamas for a series of performances at the world famous Compass Point Hotel. Joined by his stellar jazz quartet including guitarist Carl Orr, keyboardist Gary Husband, and bassist Stefan Rademacher, the group recorded a set of all new compositions and improvisations. However, plagued by a series of troublesome events, the recordings remained on the shelf unheard by the general public – until now! ...
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Education

Billy Cobham Online Drum School Goes Live

Source: James Taylor
December 9, 2011

California-based music education technology company ArtistWorks has opened the ArtistWorks Drum Academy today with the launch of online drum schools from two of the world's top drummers: world-renowned fusion and jazz drumming legend Billy Cobham and rock drumming superstar Thomas Lang. Both the Billy Cobham School of Drums and the Thomas Lang School of Drums utilize ArtistWorks' patent-pending video technology, enabling drummers around the world to receive personalized video feedback and take online drum lessons to an unprecedented new level. ...
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Education

Billy Cobham Announces Online Drum School

Source: James Taylor
November 12, 2011

California-based music education company ArtistWorks will premiere the ArtistWorks Drum Academy (ADA) with the debut of online schools from three of the world's most accomplished, respected and talented drummers: world-renowned jazz and drumming legend Billy Cobham, drumming superstar/producer Thomas Lang, and latin percussion Icon Luis Conte. Launching on December 8th, both the Billy Cobham Drum School (BCDS) and the Thomas Lang Drum School (TLDS) will utilize ArtistWorks' patent-pending video technology, allowing for two-way video exchange and interactive instruction to elevate ...
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Recording

World Renowned Drummer, Billy Cobham-New Album Release January 2010

Source: Michael Ricci
December 15, 2009

“PALINDROME" set to be released January 2010 New York, NY: Billy Cobham's 2nd installment in the “Fruit From The Loom" series is set to be released at the beginning of 2010 through his production company “CREATIVE MULTIMEDIA CONCEPTS." The compositions in “Palindrome" represent Billy's re-engagement with music that he created as far back as thirty years ago: songs like “Moon Germs" (from “Total Eclipse", 1975), “A Days Grace" ("Flight Time", 1981) are presented in updated arrangements along with “Two For ...
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366

Recording

Billy Cobham New Release "Palindrome" in 2010

Source: All About Jazz
October 28, 2009

The Legendary Drummer Billy Cobham's new CD Palindrome is set to be released at the beginning of 2010.

About Billy Cobham

The legendary Billy Cobham, with his matchless, dazzling, ambidextrous skills as a drummer, has applied the same insistent fervor to his long list of monumental achievements. Hes an accomplished composer and record producer. It is a rarely known fact that he was at the forefront of the electronic music industry and its development through Jazz. He was one of ...
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361

Performance / Tour

Billy Cobham's Spectrum Band at the Opera House in Jim Thorpe on Labor Day

Source: All About Jazz
August 18, 2008

35 years after Billy Cobham first formed the Spectrum Band, he returns to the United States for a brief tour beginning at the Opera House in Jim Thorpe, PA on Monday, September 1st. Long known for his work with Miles Davis and as the locomotive force behind the jazz fusion supergroup, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham's other stops will be New York City, Washington DC, and Detroit.

He is widely considered one of the greatest drummers in the world. He ...
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Interview

Drummer Billy Cobham Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
October 16, 2007

The universe is engaged in a miraculous rhythm that is the ultimate timekeeper. Due to his pivotal role in an important new documentary film, Billy Cobham, a master timekeeper himself, is now more aware of this than he has ever been.

The last couple of years have found Cobham involved in a wide variety of projects that have focused even more deeply on the percussive rhythms that he has spent the last half-century discovering and reinventing. This has given him ...
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