What have you learned from Billy Cobham?

Your whole life is art and when you sit down at the kit, you bring it all there with you. Thank you, Billy!

Well I really got into Billy, when he was with Mahavishnu, and I swept away by his skill and command of the drums. Then I got to see him on in concert, and playing left hand lead, on a right handed kit, and again I was swept away. And what Billy taught me was all the possibilities that mind and your heart can do with the drums. Billy has toned down some as he has got to be older, because you change has you age. But boy what a ride this has been, and he is still one of the best ever have sat behind a set. And when he was younger most cats was scared to death of him, because he could play with such force and precision, he was very, very precise fast and very, very, good at complicated playing. So what I learned from Billy some of the untapped power of drum playing which is very vast.

That talent, molded by discipline, can take you anywhere you want to go.

That question intails a prism of answers for me personally.

In a fairly large nut shell I believe it's these arenas and it's an art in every aspect respectfully.

Harnessed / controlled Power
Technique
Musicianship
Inovational approach to playing
Professionalism
Being about the music and not the other way around.
And being a gentleman and respectful person at heart among his fellow colleagues


Rac

Drumming freedom more than anything else. Billy inspired me greatly to think outside the box of standard-ism. I'm constantly looking for opportunities to push the drumming envelope. Even in the most subtlest of ways. In reality, most of the time, you DON'T have to yell to be heard.

I learned from Billy what my limitations are, and how to push them.

0. Take care of self.
1. Open and keep opening doors.
2. There is no loss. There is only gain.
3. Nothing is impossible.
4. Play everything.
5. Always improve. Never stay dormant.
6. Listen and then listen harder.

Regards,

Admin (Pete) wrote:0. Take care of self.
1. Open and keep opening doors.
2. There is no loss. There is only gain.
3. Nothing is impossible.
4. Play everything.
5. Always improve. Never stay dormant.
6. Listen and then listen harder.

Regards,

I like those, Pete... I have a bit of trouble with #2, though.
I'm of the firm belief that if you don't use it you're gonna lose it.
Switching from closed to open hand playing and not continuing to
play closed, you will lose that ability.

But not only that, to gain is to lose and vise-versa. There are pros
and cons to everything. It's all a matter of weighing the advantages
against the disadvantages.... But both are always involved to some degree.

If you keep opening doors and
never stay dormant, that takes
care of itself.

I recall billy saying that you never lose you only gain.

Man, is there any aspect of Billy's playing you can not learn from?

Even though Buddy was a big influence when I was young I wasn't into jazz and big band. So, anything he did impressed me on a level as a soloist, and his abilities were beyond comprehension when I was a kid. Ginger baker became a huge influence when Cream hit. Then Carl Palmer, which was like a re-visitation of Buddy in a rock context. But when MO came along it was like jumping up in the air and landing on the moon. The sheer power. The speeds. The fills. The grooves. Total command and use of both hands around the set.

I may have written this on another thread, I forget, but I was thinking the other morning. I have seen, numerous times, when Billy is mentioned at the beginning of an interview or article, that he "shocked" the drumming world. Has ANY other drummer EVER done that? Besides what Buddy did in his day, even that, with all the splendid drummers in jazz/Big Band music before him and during his time, can it be said Buddy shocked the drumming world? Billy did. He shocked the drumming world. He hit drummers like putting your finger in a socket. It jolted you. You sat back. You shook your head. You sat up. You looked at the radio like it was messed up. "What the heck was that?"

Billy gets a lot of praise, but I do not believe his contribution to drum set artistry has really been acknowledged by drummers, in general. He literally changed the way most drummers approach a drum set. And in doing that, even kids who never heard of him were influenced by him because of his influence on others.

Just a giant. His contributions cannot be overestimated.