Ten reasons to love BILLY COBHAM

[@carbonc6065]

Cobham!

[@jeffwambold1196]

OK BC is my favorite drummer of all time. having said that, how can you not include innerconflicts" and probably his best tune "The muffin talks back" BC was probably the best jazz,rock,funk drummer of all time!

[@Whesting2476]

Hey Andy, I’m wondering if you’d be interested in making a video about Alphonse Mouzon, he’s another great drummer who should get more credit in the “master player” conversation! Keep up the great work!

[@Poeme340]

My first drum hero-saw him, a few rows back, on his “Crosswinds” tour back in the early 70’s-I was 13. He was a dynamo, shredding sticks on his 20” crash and thudding into his North Drums. I could see everything he was doing through the clear Fibes kit. His performance on the live Central Park disc was a quantum leap forward in drumming and life changing for me as young drummer. His grooves still go ‘round in my head!👍👍

[@devereauxclandestine1272]

Only had the chance to see Billy live once. His band was fantastic. Tim Landers, Gil Goldstein, Michael Urbaniak and a young unknown guitarist called Mike Stern. Burned the house down!

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Stern was a real force when he first emerged and he didn't own a chorus pedal

[@devereauxclandestine1272]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Yeah, I caught him a few years ago playing with Didier Lockwood. It was a fine gig but for me at least Sterns playing lacked some of the tough fire of his early years. To be fair though he's hardly alone on that score.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

@@devereauxclandestine1272 Stern's solo on Fat Time is one of the greatest guitar solos of all time.

[@devereauxclandestine1272]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Yes it is. It was the certainly the best moment by far on Man With The Horn ( although I always liked Bill Evans playing on that album too - first time I heard him ). I seem to remember the critical reception for the album was a bit muted but Sterns solo garnered universal praise - and rightly so!

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

@@devereauxclandestine1272 Yes, not one of Miles' best but some great moments too. But on WebWant Miles he was back fully on form

[@RonaldWilliams-qh7zc]

Neil Peart from Rush said that's why he became a drummer because of Billy Cobham back in the seventies nobody could touch him!! Birds of fire and the inner mounting flame those are my absolute favorite MO albums!

[@neilloughran4437]

Nice you mentioned AliveMuthaForYa... I bought that in the 80s and it always stayed with me. I remember seeing Steve Khan mention how the tour was cut short due to poor sales and so they recorded it in front of Columbia executives and overdubbed crowd noise from another live album (by Chicago!)....

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Oh wow...I never knew that....

[@jazzpunk]

Wow, indeed! I missed out on the LP. Not sure why...love Khan, Scott, Alphonso, & BC. Eventually picked up the cd when it was finally reissued. I try to pick up every version of "Bahama Mama" I can get. :-)

[@spankduncan1114]

Very nice tribute. Came across Billy first with Mahavishnu. My routine at the record store back then was flipping through everything to see what caught my fancy. Any album that had Billy Cobham on it I bought.

[@markcapofari8419]

Tremendous drummer and person and and his Uncle worked with me and able to meet a few times - very gracious Show due for the Breckers / John - Ambercrombie and Schofield

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

i need to do a Scofield video, I have done a Michael Brecker video. Abercrombie...I love Timeless and Night but don't know his other stuff so well.

[@michaelfavreau7617]

Fantastic. Great episode. I had the humbling pleasure of meeting Billy after a clinic in 2006 . He took the time to converse with me but I was so star struck that I don`t recall what we talked about. I`m sure I tried to be clever. Billy was cool and casual and so engaging. Afterward he signed my ticket, shook my hand and offered good luck on my career both as a drummer and a Chef. Fantastic indeed

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

I have a rather silly video coming out about how I nearly met him three times

[@libre-tad6283]

I saw that masterclass👍

[@armandom28]

great albums.....I also like a lot of his drum n' bass recordings

[@nigelclement1366]

Hi Andy. Billy Cobham - fantastically brill drummer - one of my favourites. Got the first three of four solo albums - will have to try and listen to the others you mentioned. Only managed to see BC once and that was with John McLaughlin, Jack Bruce and Stu Goldberg at The Rainbow Theatre, London - Nov 1979. If memory serves me correctly it wasn't the greatest of gigs.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

all the seventies albums are great, and I missed quite a few off my list...inner Conflicts and Funky Thide of Sings are also great

[@Robt.Velasquez]

A very nice tribute to one of histories greatest drummers. He IS the gold standard! I don’t know what it is with some musicians who seem to have the ability to remain fiercly active but have the appearance of not trying to. Perhaps it’s their youth that’s needed to pour the effort into such work as Billy did with MO and his solo albums immediately after MO blew up!

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

And he is possibly the fittest guy to ever play fusion, he was an athlete

[@jbognap]

Magic was my first BC record. I convinced my top 40 band to open our gigs with On a Magic Carpet Ride. I was so very influenced by Peter Maunu on this record and on Shadow Play by L.A. Express.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

I love that tune...it has a sound of of it's own

[@jbognap]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer And that piano solo is so good.

[@guillaumechabason3165]

Fly with the wind by Mc Coy Tyner is a great BC album ...

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Oh yes...he's incredible on that...

[@ingivalgeirsson4483]

Great video. I only have five albums with Billy Cobham all great. I recently bought TOTAL ECLIPSE (speakers corner) a great album after a few listens. I'm a guitar player but every time I listen to a Billy Cobham album I long to buy a drum kit.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Billy is a riff monster however, he always writes well for a guitarist....

[@davestephens6421]

Surprised you didn't mention A Funky Thide Of Sings, which again features a burning Sco!! I actually love the George Duke/Billy Cobham band album. I saw that line up live alongside Shakti and Weather Report at Hammy Odeon. The album was recorded on that tour. I didn't get them at the time of the gig, as I was a serious fusionist!!! But when I got the album and subsequently saw the wonderful Montreux video I got the Dukey humour...which obviously was influenced by Zappa. It was a killer band with the much underatted Alphhonso Johnson. If you don't know the video, and the whole thing is on you tube, check it out. They are having a blast!!!

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

I love it all...all the seventies albums, just had to pick ten. Funky Thide is great, almost a Brecker Bros album.

[@davestephens6421]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Hahaha...its almost Starsky And Hutch TV themes at times.....but I love all that stuff!!

[@grahamallen9393]

Great video Andy , still have my VHS home tape of the BC BBC2 drum clinic which like you I found mesmerising . Some of the questions were great too , was he worried about being replaced by drum machines etc ! Like another comment I love Inner Conflicts especially the title track which is a 10 min space/synth/ drum freak out , never heard anything like it . Loved his pairing with Alphonso Johnson , rivals maybe to Erskine /Jaco 😉

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Wow...I can't beleive you have a 40 year VHS tape of that!!! I have never been keen on the Jaco/Erskine rhythm section. I think Alex Acuna was the perfect drummer for Jaco...

[@jazzpunk]

I am listening to the opening track of SHABAZZ. The horns near the beginning sound, to me, very Zappa-esque. The solo sections sound very Free-sounding while still grooving...so it's possible!

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Yes, it is an album unto itself...like big band Mahavishnu....

[@marcotron7288]

Hi Andy,being a drummer yourself and a big fusion fan,what do you think of Cozy Powell and his first 2 solo albums over the top and tilt ?

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

I have spoken about Tilt on here already...i love that album...full on jazz fusion!

[@rakeshadhin]

Hi Andy, I've missed "Inner Conflicts" on your list, which is the last great album before Billy's commercial period.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Great album, but I don't have it on vinyl

[@jazzpunk]

Agreed...those Menagerie albums kicked! The "80s-itis" comment is spot on! ;-P

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

I think Billy changed his approach too, his drumming changed in the 80s

[@jazzpunk]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I am going to revisit Ken Scott's book. IIRC, there some BC info...maybe how his drum sound was sampled. Did he ever use Fibes drums? Unfortunately, the '80s & Linn Drums, synths, etc became a panacea...and if you fought it, you were a Neanderthal. By the '90s, there were local bar/cover bands with no live drummer &/or bassist.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

@@jazzpunk Yes, i believe he played Fibes in the seventies

[@jazzpunk]

Anecdotes from 2 drummers I have gigged with > In the '80s, BC did a clinic in a local music store. My friend said every drummer in the area was there. He said 1 bomb coulda eliminated all his competition. :-0 It's a joke! The 1 thing he thought important... BC hammered home "Play the spaces". The other friend told me Buddy Rich & BC were his earliest influences (this guy attended Interlochen as a kid). He listened to BC with The MO...couldn't figure out how he was doing all that "stuff"...until he saw him live. He mentioned an open style of playing (not crosshanded). Does this makes sense?

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Yes totally, Cobham does not cross his hands over to play.. Simon Phillips plays the same way

[@fernandomartincom]

In my opinion, Billy Cobham is the most important drummer in drumming history, because he was the one who really made the transition between jazz and rock, and because jazz and rock are the two most important genres of the last hundred years, Billy is the most important of the last hundred years (which is the entire history of the drum set). Sure, we have Danny Seraphine, Bobby Colomby and of course Tony Williams, but they didn't have a sound rooted on both genres 50/50 as Billy Cobham did. Billy started as a jazz drummer, but developed a sound that embraced the power of rock (and played double bass drums better than the rock drummers of his time). I also should mention Jon Hiseman and John Marshall as very important late sixties jazz rock drummers

[@EleanorPeterson]

Ten? Mate, we only need one reason to love him. He's Billy Cobham. That's reason enough.😁

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

yep...true

[@scoop1178]

saw BC one time in Germany. Viersen 1994 with Terje Rypdal and Victor Bailey. Videos check here on youtube. It is like masterclass.

[@EleanorPeterson]

Ah, the great Bilham Cobly...🙃

[@SuperQdaddy]

Inner conflicts...lol

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

killer..his last full on fusion album of the classic period

[@jazzatnight]

Doug Rauch was a bad bassist! Wish he could have survived much longer.