Only a few times in history has a musician been singled out as the world-class master of his instrument. Billy Cobham is one of those few artists. For over 30 years, he has received international acclaim as the total consummate percussionist. 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.
Born in Panama in 1944, the Cobham’s moved to New York City in 1947. 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.
Since 1980 Billy Cobham has been dividing his time between his new home in Switzerland 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.
He has performed on hundreds of records with his own groups and with some of the music’s most luminary artists, such as Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra and John McLaughlin, Freddie Hubbard, Larry Coryell and Horace Silver Band. 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. 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.
Most recently he released the recording Fruit From The Loom (Feb. 08’) and is the central figure of Sonic Mirror—a groundbreaking new documentary film.
April 24 – 27, 2008
Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley
2033 6th Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98121
COST: $26.50
www.jazzalley.com
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
