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10 Questions for Billy Cobham by Bryan Reesman from GOLDMINE 10/31/03
A monster drummer, a fusion pioneer, and a jazz mainstay, Billy Cobham is a
living legend. For four decades the preeminent percussionist has played with
some of the most revered names in jazz and fusion - Miles Davis, Stanley Clarke,
Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra - not to mention his
long-running solo career, which includes more than 30 releases beginning with
his mind-blowing 1973 debut SPECTRUM.
Some would contendthat Cobham has maintained a low profile throughout the
last two decades. This is untrue, for he has been actively recording and touring
and even founded a label and concert promotions company called Creative
Multimedia Concepts.Considering his endeavors have been focused more on overseas
markets [ he hasbeen residing in Switzerland for more than 20 years], it's not
surprising thatAmerican critics and fans have interpreted a lull in activity.
Cobham's latest major project is the ART OF JAZZ series, which highlights
music recorded by Cobham with various musical cohorts in a variety of
formations, including a trio, quartet, and quintet [THE ART OF THREE, FOUR , AND
FIVE respectively], plus his Caribbean fusion group CULTURE MIX.Additionally,
there is the CONUNDRUM interactive CD, which uses music Cobham performed with
the LONDON JAZZ ORCHESTRA and allows listeners to mute any one of the seven
instrument groups and play along. The drummer hopes to make his entire ART OF
JAZZ series an interactive experience in the future, and he is also assembling a
book of photographs he has taken throughtout his career, including his tenure
with Davis and Clarke.
Fans have not forgotten his groundbreaking early work, either. Two years
ago Rhino unleashed the two-CD set RUDIMENTS: THE BILLY COBHAM ANTHOLOGY, which
encapsulates his innovative and prolific '70s work, plus a DVD-audio reissue of
the influential SPECTRUM album, which feature JAN HAMMERon keyboards, LEE SKLAR
on bass, and the late TOMMY BOLIN on guitar. Cobham recently played North
American dates with the NEW SPECTRUM BAND, which includes keyboardist TOM
COSTER, bassist VICTOR BAILEY and guitarist FRANK GAMBALE.
In this exclusive GOLDMINE interview, Cobham discussed
his evolving catreer and his reemergence on the American jazz circuit. Q- What
inspired you to move to Switzerland? A- I wanted to study. I mean not going to
a university with walls but choosing another environment in which to learn from,
through, in. Being here in North America, I found that everyone is kind of on
automatic. I felt that I functioned here so easily that I took a lot of things
for granted, and a lot of questions continued to pass thru my brain about why
certain things were the way they were, and I kept coming to the conclusion that
we were programmed in a certain way. We all are. Certain key elements program
the rest. instance, what we read in school, from the very, very beginning. I
often asked at a very young age - who decided what was in the Bible? Why is
there so much conflict about a supreme being that everyone is supposed to revere
so highly and yet there are so many wars about it? This is illogical to me.
Because if there is this one supreme being, then why are we fighting about what
he/she.... is it a he, is it a she? What laws presented and how? Being brought
up in Brooklyn, something said "Hey man, it's about money." Q- Of
course! A-For a whole lot of people, it ain't "Of course." When you
see some of these bozos with these church TV shows- here's a guy who's talking
about"Do as I say ,not as I do", and preaches one specific thing, goes
out and does the complete opposite, then comes back and says,"I have
sinned." After a while, I'm looking at this and I'm going, "Is this
the way the rest of the world is? Or is there another spin?" This is all
about bucks or being wealthy enough in certain respects to have a life that is
of leisure. The end objective is peace of mind. Everybody's going for that in
various ways. It's an extremely expensive commodity, so it means that people get
killed just by other people who want , not so much to control those around them,
but to control their immediate society. All those things went through my hed
when I left the United States.
Q - What have you found it like in Switzerland? A- I found that , contrary
to the U.S, people will say, "It's such a boring , slow place."
Exactly. Exactly! It's boring to those who are moving so fast that they don't
have time to really understand that what they're seeking-which is peace of mind-
is obtainable at a slower pace in an area where there are not as many selections
to have. But are you willing to pay that price? It's like saying, "I'm
going to leave New York and move to Cork, Ireland."The next question is , "what's
in Cork, Ireland?" Peace of mind. There's a river that runs through it.
There's a small town where the sidewalks roll up at 4:00 in the afternoon.
Things don't get done on the same day that you think they should. Strangely
enough, people still survive. Asa a matter of fact, they live to the ages of 90
and 100, ane they're happy about it. It's not like they're in pain. Q- America
has become a country that is completely obsessed with youth.People reach the age
of 30 and think that they're old. A- I just came back from visiting my web site
[www.billycobham.com], and somebody comes up on the guest book and says, "How
old are you? A hundred? You've been around so long and done all these things..."It's
all relative to what you do and to who you are and where you've been. So far
this year I've put in a lot of miles, man. I've been in India, in the Caribbean,
and in the Middle East. There are things happening all over the world. If I stay
in the U.S., chances are that I don't see a lot of that.
Q- How do the American and European jazz scenes compare? A- the European
jazz scene is much more intellectual, mcuh more evenly spread out. I play 20 to
30 concerts for every show that I play here in the States. That's because I'm
only recently being considered as a candidate to play here in the U.S. Q- A
candidate in what sense? A- In terms of people thinking about me as an artist
who could bring people into their venue. People just don't think of Billy Cobham
as a jazz musician, if they think of Billy Cobham at all. Q- Yet you have
a reputation for being the greatest fusion druimmer around!! A- That has been a
marketing no-no. Fusion? Oh my ! The negative posture by the media on fusion
over the last 20-some years is fascinating. I just sit there and watch. What can
one say? Jazz has never been organized enough in any form, and fusion is a
combination of jazz and rock n' roll at a level that is pretty much the pinnacle
of what it would be for both art forms. It won't go away and jazz has to go
away. That's music that can't go away because it represents people who won't die
right now. There's always going to be a market for that. I played a jazz-rock
tour in India with Jean-Luc Ponty, and we played Bombay, Chennai, Bangalore,
Delhi and Calcutta. We were averaging, modestly, about 10,000 people per night.
They all paid to come and check it out. Q- During the 70's , you had a
very frenetic, heavy style of playing. As you've gotten older, your music has
become more restrained. Did you tap into a different pulse after moving to
Switzerland? A- Yes. I found also that as I get older, I find the theory that
less is more, the complexity of simplicity, is a conundrum unto itsellf. All of
a sudden you find you're playing the music and looking to find the space, the
air where people can imagine what should be there for themselves, and that makes
the music in itself even more beautiful. It's like getting Sly Stone to get up
on stage and mouth the words "dance to the music", maybe five to ten
times, and then he never has to say it anymore. but everybody will swear that
they sang it with him all the time, and all they're doing is clapping. The same
thing with the music. You play certain patterns or you play a pattern that
everybody can be familiar with what, or it sounds like it's going in this
particular logical direction, and they fill in the spots within their own mind.
Now you have an audience that's become part of the band. That you learn when you
start to lean toward 60 like me.
Q- I've always felt that you do so much with drums melodically, but I feel
that many people don't know or understand that. A- It's not necessary for
them to know it if they're only looking for the drummer to hit the high -hat ,
play the snare drum and the bass drum and occasionally hit a cymbal because
that's all that the music requires. So they don't need too know any more. It
just blows everything that they have in mind to do. It depends on the music. Q-
Didn't you work on some commercial jingles back in the past? A- I still do
that from time to time. Q -- What's been the most memorable jingle you've
actually recorded? A --Certs. That happened around 1969. It was just one of
those things where you walk in and the contractor says" You won';t need any
drums today. Just clap. We can't do it because it's union regs, so all you have
to do is this: 'Certs is a breath mint.Certs is a candy mint.Two' Clap "Two"
Clap "Two mints in one": That ran for 20-something years. [laughs]
Q- Did you get any good royalties off of that? A- Sure! Union checks are
really small, but they do add up. Twenty bucks here or there every 13 weeks, and
the next thing you know, you've got something. Q- If there were another
drummer you could jam with, who would it be? A- I'd probably get on with
Dennis. Chambers and I have a pretty good rapport. I want to make music with
people. I don't want to compete with people. That makes it a lot of fun for me
when I'm doing that. I think that with Dennis we could probably do some things
that would work. What's unique about him is that he doesn't read music, but he
has some very, very interesting ideas. He's a very sensitive person, and that
will come through the music. He's not a pounder. He's someone who will play the
drums with a very strong human attitude behind it, with a story behind it.
That's very, very special. That's very important. Q- What do you think
about the future of jazz? A- It will always be around as long as there is a
human race.
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