SIMON OSLENDER, STEVE GADD, WILL LEE & BRUNO MÜLLER | BILLY COBHAM & Band | Torsten Goods

Billy Cobham will be eighty in May 2024 - but he is not even remotely thinking about retiring.
On the contrary: he is celebrating a musical reunion with the original line-up of his band - Billy Cobham's Time Machine.

"Time Machine is an updated version of my original production, which featured Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Glenn Ferris, Alex Blake, John Abercrombie, Milcho Leviev and Lee Pastora. Since then, 50 years have flown by. Some of the pieces from that time I have rarely performed again - 'Solarization', 'Total Eclipse', 'Bandits', 'Crescent Sun', 'Moon Germs' and 'Sea of Tranquility' have hardly ever appeared in my programmes. That's why I'm now devoting myself intensively to their revival, supplemented by new compositions inspired by the repertoire around Total Eclipse." - Billy Cobham

Born in Panama on May 16, 1944 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Cobham played his first paid gig at the age of eight as a member of the St. Catherine's Queensmen drum and brass corps in St. Albans, Queens. He attended the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts in New York, where he studied music theory and percussion technique.

Between 1965 and 1968, Cobham served in the US Army, where he was a drummer in the Army Music Corps. After his military career, he played in Horace Silver's band, performed with Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott and recorded with George Benson.

In 1969, Billy Cobham co-founded the jazz rock band Dreams, which included Randy and Michael Brecker, John Abercrombie, Don Grolnick, Barry Rodgers and Will Lee. Just one year later, he joined Miles Davis' new fusion line-up and took part in important recordings such as Live-Evil, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and the sessions for Bitches Brew. He also worked with guitarist John McLaughlin for the first time.

In 1971, Cobham was a founding member of the legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra, together with McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman and Rick Laird. The ensemble released three style-defining albums: The Inner Mounting Flame (1971), Birds of Fire (1973) and the live album Between Nothingness and Eternity (1973).

His first solo album Spectrum was released in 1973 - a milestone in jazz fusion that is still considered one of the most influential productions of the genre. The album was recorded at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios in New York. Contributors included Tommy Bolin (guitar), Jan Hammer (keyboards, synthesizer) and Lee Sklar (bass). In the same year, Cobham went on tour with John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana - the program was based on the album Love Devotion Surrender.

After the original line-up of the Mahavishnu Orchestra disbanded in 1974, Cobham continued his creative journey with innovative fusion albums such as Crosswinds (1974), Shabazz (1974), Total Eclipse (1974), A Funky Thide of Sings (1975) and Life and Times (1976).

In the 1970s and 1980s, Cobham released numerous albums on labels such as Atlantic, CBS, Elektra and GRP. He worked with greats such as George Duke, John Scofield, Tony Williams, Jack Bruce and the Grateful Dead successor band Bobby & the Midnites.

In 1992, Cobham was involved in a music project for autistic children and street children in Santos, Brazil, on behalf of UNICEF - a commitment that lasted several years.

In 2001, the extensive double album Rudiments: The Billy Cobham Anthology was released. From 2002, Cobham launched the CD series Drum n Voice, in which he collaborated with selected guest artists.

By 2005, Cobham had released over 30 albums under his own name. His close musical relationship with the Cuban band Asere is particularly noteworthy.

In 2007, the album Fruit from the Loom was released, which stylistically reflects Cobham's musical roots and milestones. Palindrome, the second album in the series, followed in 2010.

In 2011, Cobham began giving drum lessons online via The Jazz & Fusion Drum School with Billy Cobham.

In 2013, he celebrated the 40th anniversary of Spectrum with an international tour of the USA, Canada and Europe with his Spectrum 40 Band. In the same year, Purple Pyramid Records released the previously unreleased live album Billy Cobham Compass Point, which was recorded at the Compass Point Hotel in the Bahamas in 1997.

Finally, in early 2014, the long-awaited album Tales from the Skeleton Coast was released, the third in a four-part series dedicated by Billy Cobham to his parents - both musicians themselves. In his words:

"Tales from the Skeleton Coast is a musical testimony to those life experiences that I was privileged to share with my parents and which are deeply embedded in my heart and mind. Many of these impressions come from a journey through southwest Africa, now called Namibia. The images of the Skeleton Coast are indelibly imprinted on my mind - and through music I try to create a sonic monument to these special memories."