Jazz fusión: «Stratus» y «Snoopy’s Search/Red Baron» [ESP/ENG]

In 1980 Billy Cobham collaborated in a concert with rock band Grateful Dead at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and held a three drummers jam session with Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart of the Rhythm Devils. In 1981 he founded the jazz fusion group Glass Menagerie with Mike Stern on electric guitar, Michał Urbaniak on violin, Gil Goldstein on piano and Tim Landers on electric bass. Its first album was Stratus (1981), and then Stern, who went with Miles Davis, was replaced by Dean Brown, and Goldstein also left the band. In 1982 Smokin’ was produced with a live performance by the new formation and then they published Observations & Reflections, in which Cobham makes a magnificent solo on “M.S.R.”. In 1984 he joined the rock band Bobby and the Midnites of singer and guitarist Bob Weir, one of the founders of the Grateful Dead, and appeared in Where the Beat Meets the Street (1984). In 1985 he was hired by GRP Records and published Warning (1985), Power Play (1986) and Picture This (1987) with commercial music. Over the next few years he toured the world learning the traditional music of different countries.

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In 1992 Cobham played with singer and keyboardist Peter Gabriel, leader of the famous progressive rock group Genesis, at the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) international art festival, which presents first quality original music regardless of musical genre or geographical origin, and encourages collaboration between the artists involved. In 1993 he launched The Traveler, inspired by a trip he made to Brazil. In 1994 Cobham participated in a concert organized by electric bassist Stanley Clarke, founding member of the acclaimed jazz fusion band Return to Forever, at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, which resulted in Stanley Clarke, Larry Carlton, Billy Cobham, Najee and Deron Johnson Live at the Greek (1994). In 1996 Cobham founded Nordic with saxophonist Tore Brunborg, pianist Bugge Wesselfoft and double bassist Terje Gewelt, all Scandinavians, and recorded Nordic, but the album wasn’t released until 1999. In 1997 he formed the Paradox trio with Bill Bickford on guitar and Wolfgang Schmid on electric bass, both Germans, releasing Paradox (1977). In 1998 he founded Jazz Is Dead along with guitarist Jimmy Herring, keyboardist T Lavitz and electric bassist Alphonso Johnson, and published Blue Light Rain, in which the band uses Grateful Dead music as starting point to get to unimaginable places.

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In 1999 Cobham launched Focused with trumpeter Randy Brecker and keyboardist Gary Husband featuring long themes in which each player freely presents his ideas. In 2001 he issued The Art of Three with veterans Kenny Barron on piano and Ron Carter on double bass and the Rhino label released the compilation album Rudiments: The Billy Cobham Anthology. In 2002 he published Drum ‘n’ Voice, Vol. 1, in 2006 Drum ‘n’ Voice, Vol. 2 and in 2010 Drum ‘n’ Voice, Vol. 3 returning to 1970s jazz-funk with guest musicians. Afterwards he launched Palindrome (2010), which reflects his endless search for new techniques and ways of expression. In 2011 This Is Jazz: Live at the Blue Note appeared, registering a Cobham concert with saxophonist Donald Harrison and bassist Ron Carter at New York’s Blue Note club. That same year he began to teach drum lessons online at the Billy Cobham School of Drums, a school of the ArtistWorks Drum Academy. Finally in 2013 Compass Point went on sale with a performance he made in 1997 at the Compass Point Hotel in the Bahamas with Carl Orr on guitar, Gary Husband on keyboards and Stefan Rademacher on electric bass. His latest works have been Tales From The Skeleton Coast (2014), Red Baron (2017), Tierra Del Fuego (2020) y Michael and Tim Franklin, Anahata (2023). Billy Cobham has improved jazz drumming technique, introduced it with dynamism in the jazz fusion domain and has become an example for all drummers.

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Translated with the help of DeepL

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℗ Atlantic Records