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Billy Cobham•Books

Yes and King Crimson Legend Bill Bruford Picks Cobham Book as Best on Drumming

December 3, 2021 by briangruber No Comments
The legendary Bill Bruford, drummer for Yes, King Crimson and his own jazz band Earthworks, includes my Cobham book in his “The best books on why drummers do what they do.” In a personal note, he told me the book was “Unputdownable.” As a Yes fan from way back, high praise.
 
Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation
By Brian K. Gruber
 
Why this book?
 
Many of the best drummers write, or otherwise initiate, their own music for the very best reason: because they have to. This book is an oral history of Panamanian drummer Billy Cobham at the height of his powers, preparing his oeuvre for a 17-piece big band engagement under the guidance of British arranger and trumpeter Guy Barker. The gig is a 6-night run at London’s Ronnie Scott’s Club. Author Brian Gruber hangs out with the band for the duration to capture the verbal and musical fruits of an improvised series of encounters with elite performers. While the story pivots around the drummer, it is nevertheless an excellent multi-viewpoint guide over six decades as to how musicians collaborate and survive in an ever-changing music landscape.
 
The full article can be found here. 
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Billy Cobham

Mike Tiano Praises “Six Days” as a New “Benchmark for Oral Histories”

September 24, 2021 by briangruber No Comments

Music blogger and longtime Yes digital media manager Mike Tiano releases this fresh review of “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s.” Mike interviewed Billy and I during the initial launch of the book. 

 

Beyond Ronnie Scott’s, a history of Billy Cobham’s journey through popular music
 
The title of Brian Gruber’s astonishing book doesn’t come close to describe what is encompassed in this fascinating work. The jumping point might begin with Billy Cobham’s six nights at Ronnie Scott’s but actually dives deeply into a number of oral histories, including facts about the legendary drummer—make that musician–that might surprise all but the most fanatical Cobham follower. While Cobham-philes will devour the results of Gruber’s astounding conversations with the articulate artist the book will captivate anyone fascinated in the history of popular music from the 1960s forward from Billy’s viewpoint.

While the title event is well-documented, the influential musician’s life story is meticulously discussed by Cobham himself along with the perspective of those who interacted with him during their lifetime (including band mates past and present), along with those who were greatly influenced by him (e.g., Bill Bruford’s first encountering Cobham when the Mahavishnu Orchestra were the opening act for Yes). We learn about Billy’s musical journey where he performed with legends that included the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Muhammad Ali, leading to his involvement with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and launching his own solo career of releasing many memorable albums, and the foibles of eking a living as an innovative musician who can at the same time remain relevant to modern audiences.

Brian’s herculean efforts in assembling this wonderful tome goes beyond Cobham and includes info that centers on Ronnie Scott himself, and how the club came to be. This book sets a benchmark for oral histories and has much to digest; the consumer will find much to revisit time and again.

Whether you’re a casual fan of Cobham’s musical output or think you know all there is to know about the exquisite musician this is a must read, and Gruber’s musical knowledge coupled with his deft organization of the various elements contained herein is nothing short of dazzling.

And trust me, that is no hyperbole.

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Billy Cobham•Books

WGBH Boston Jazz Critic Picks “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s” As One of Year’s Best Jazz Books

May 6, 2021 by briangruber No Comments

Missed this one.

Tessil Collins, Managing Producer of Jazz 24/7 from WGBH Boston, one of the most respected jazz shows in the United States on perhaps the country’s leading producer of original music content, selected by “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s” as one of the best jazz books of the year. Here is the complete list, quite an honor roll of the country’s top jazz authors and journalists. 

Tessil Collins


    • Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music by Gerald Horne Monthly Review Press (April 22, 2019)
    • Arthur Elgort: Jazz by Marianne Houtenbos Damiani (September 25, 2018)
    • Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon by Maxine Gordon University of California Press (November 6, 2018)
    • Why Jazz Happened by Marc Myers University of California Press (February 26, 2019)
    • The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire by Ted Gioia Oxford University Press (July 6, 2012)
    • Jazz/Not Jazz—The Music and It’s Boundaries by David Ake, Charles Hiroshi Garrett and Daniel GoldmarkUniversity of California Press (2012)
    • Diggin’—The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music by Amiri Baraka University of California Press (2009)
    • Definitive Jazz & Blues Encyclopedia: New & Expanded Edition by Jeff Watts, Howard Mandel Flame Tree Publishing (March 15, 2019)
    • How to Listen to Jazz by Ted Gioia Basic Books (May 17, 2016)
    • The Jazz Pictures by Stanley Crouch and Carol Friedman Arena Editions (1999)
    • Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis Vintage (January 26, 1999)
    • The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia Oxford University Press (May 9, 2011)
    • Miles by Miles Davis Simon & Schuster (September 20, 2011)
    • Concise Guide to Jazz (7th Edition) by Mark C. Gridley Pearson(January 6, 2013)
    • Jazz: An Introduction to the History and Legends Behind America’s Music by Bob Blumenthal Harper Perennial (December 18, 2007)
    • Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation by Brian K. Gruber CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 28, 2018)
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Billy Cobham•Books

Glyn Phillips of UK Vibe Reviews “Six Days”

March 9, 2021 by briangruber No Comments

An astounding and quite generous review from the esteemed UK Vibe. I had a nice chat with reviewer Glyn Phillips today, thanking him for the review. Here are some excerpts. Please do check out UK Vibe and the full review here. 

The review of this book has given me problems like no other. Not from a dearth of things to say, but a very surfeit of them. I wanted to deliver a well-structured review with a natural flow and a coherent overview. However, just like it’s subject matter the style and structure of this book is like no other. But, after all, we are talking about the long musical life and successful career of the living legend that is Billy Cobham here – and if you think you know everything there is to know about him then think again, because this book will almost certainly make you reappraise it all.

… it is rich in anecdotes, colour and insight and is a real labour of love.

The first thing to say is that if you’re a fan of Billy Cobham, then you must read this book. If you’re a fan of jazz and/or jazz-rock, jazz-funk, fusion, Latin or any of the myriad popular forms that Billy Cobham has performed in over the last 60 odd years, then you’ll find masses of first-hand anecdotes and observations to pique your interest within this book. If you’re a drummer of whatever persuasion, you’ll get a lot out of it too – the sub-title might make it sound like a lecture, but it’s not, you will widen your mind by a process of osmotic narrative(!). And finally, if you’re a muso of almost whatever kind then you’re bound to instinctively recognise the descriptions of gigs (big and small), rehearsals, band dynamics, bandmates, agents, promoters, venues, recording studios, money issues and touring that this book so graphically brings to light…

You will feel like you are front row in the audience at Ronnie Scott’s as the hush descends and you’re about to be bathed in musical ecstasy…

This is a very accurate insight into the life of musicians that most fans never see, illustrating both the excitement of creating exhilarating art in the moment and the sometimes comic contrast with the utter banality of a musician’s day and concerns at other times…

To aid with further investigation there’s a Billy Cobham Discography at the back stretching from 1973 to 2016 and each chapter is linked to a Spotify list to illustrate it musically (Billy Cobham 1, Billy Cobham 2, etc)…

But, overall it is packed to the gunwales with anecdotes about all kinds of jazz legends that are almost household names and the editing always assures that another “Wow! Really?” moment is always around the corner.

 

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Billy Cobham•Books

A Discussion of “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s” on The Gears Page

March 2, 2021 by briangruber No Comments

Fascinating perspectives on the vital role of percussionists like Mister Cobham on The Gears Page forum. Here is an excerpt from comments by FlyingVBlues and a link to the full thread.

I recently read “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation” by Brian Gruber. It was a series of interviews with Billy, Jan Hammmer, Ron Carter, Randy Brecker and others. Billy said that when he was in Mahavishnu “he was just a drummer in the band” and “he was the guy that no one expected anything from”. This set of interviews made me greatly appreciate what a driving force a really dominant drummer could be, and how such a drummer could be the difference between a good band and a great band. As a guitarist I greatly admire and respect Eric Clapton and John McLaughlin, and I love the music of Miles Davis and Parliament/Funkadelic. But I don’t think any of those artists/bands would have been as powerful in either their records or in their live performances without an outstanding drummer.

… And in Mahavishnu when you think about the performances, and not the compositions that McLaughlin wrote, Cobham and sometimes Jan Hammer were way more important to the sound of that band then McLaughlin was. If you listen carefully to John McLaughlin he has a problem keeping time. He has a tendency to speed up the tempo, and Cobham deftly anchors his playing to keep the time where it should be. Billy can play in a groove that sets and maintains the rhythm and tempo of the piece, which is something that McLaughlin doesn’t so well. And listen to Cobham’s playing on the “Jack Johnson” album. Billy Cobham brought a funkier approach to Miles’ recordings, and the groove on “Right Off” and also “Corrado” on “Bitches Brew” are among the strongest Miles Davis ever recorded.

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Billy Cobham•Books•Uncategorized

Geoff Wills Reviews Six Days: Highly Recommended to Jazz Rock Fans

October 31, 2020 by briangruber No Comments

We keep batting 1,000 on Six Days book reviews. This one from Geoff Wills of the esteemed Penniless Press. 

SIX DAYS AT RONNIE SCOTT’S: BILLY COBHAM ON JAZZ FUSION AND THE ACT OF CREATION

by Brian Gruber 

Reviewed by Geoff Wills
 
Billy Cobham is one of the all-time great drummers. Although he emerged in the mid-1960s playing in a straight-ahead jazz context with artists like Billy Taylor and Horace Silver, he began to make his mark in the field of jazz-rock from the late 1960s onwards with the band Dreams, on recordings by Miles Davis, and, specifically between 1971 and 1973, with British guitarist John McLaughlin’s seminal jazz-rock group Mahavishnu Orchestra. Fellow musicians were flabbergasted by his phenomenal technique and a unique style that utilized military precision, ambidexterity, jazz subtlety, rock and roll excitement, rhythm and blues feel and an ability to play odd time signatures, all on a very large two-bass drum percussion setup. Although Cobham has been interviewed for magazines many times over the years, Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s is the first book specifically devoted to his life and work.
 
The book’s author, Brian Gruber, is a prominent media marketing innovator and longstanding jazz and popular music aficionado, now based in Thailand. He first met Billy Cobham in 2010, and, as he explains, his book is not a biography but ‘an oral history exploring six decades of music.’
 
The background to the book is a six-day residency in June 2017 at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London, which Billy Cobham undertook with a 17-piece big band led by trumpeter and arranger Guy Barker, playing orchestrations of Cobham compositions. Gruber was at the club during the entire residency, interviewing not only Cobham but also band musicians, club officials, friends and family members. The book thus provides a kaleidoscopic view, a tapestry of interview material, covering Cobham’s life and work, and also the progress of an extended engagement by a world-class musician and orchestra in an internationally-renowned club as described by club owners, road managers, music critics and fans.
 
Cobham who was born in Panama in 1944, came to New York with his family three years later, growing up in Brooklyn in a community that included Barbadians, Trinidadians and Panamanians. His father, a statistician, was also a talented pianist and was an early influence. The house was full of music from AM radio, relaying the sounds of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Harry James, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. As a result of these influences Cobham began to play percussion while still a toddler, accompanied his father aged eight, and at sixteen got his first complete drum set when he went to the High School of Music and Art. After a spell in the army, playing in a military band, his professional career began.
 
Gruber is able to draw from Cobham insights into the darker side of the music business. For instance, Cobham describes how, in the mid-1970s, in a band he co-led with keyboard player George Duke, ‘I knew that I was working with a bunch of thugs.’ He is referring to Duke’s manager, ‘dominant, management by intimidation. [Frank] Zappa band manager Herb Cohen … you had a goon as management, some kind of gangster.’
 
In another anecdote, Cobham relates how, after being with Mahavishnu Orchestra for a few years, he noticed that another drummer, Narada Michael Walden, started to sit behind him at concerts. Soon after, he was told by management that he was no longer in the band. He believes that this was because he was not prepared to follow John McLaughlin’s religious direction. Thus, Cobham’s views of McLaughlin are not totally positive. ‘The only complimentary thing that John McLaughlin gave me was a picture of John Coltrane for Christmas … McLaughlin had no sense of time, always getting faster. Reach God as quickly as possible.’ The final straw with McLaughlin was in 1984 when, after having recorded an album with him, Cobham learned from an outside source that another drummer was in the band for the tour to promote the album.
 
Overall, though, Cobham’s career has been hugely successful. After leading his own groups he moved to Switzerland in the early 1980s and freelanced in Europe. As described by Gruber, the residency at Ronnie Scott’s epitomizes this success, made clear in interviews with band members like Steve Hamilton, Carl Orr, Mike Mondesir and Guy Barker. Phone interviews with eminent musicians and collaborators Randy Brecker, Jan Hammer and Ron Carter add further clarification.
 
Gruber adds tangential interest to his book by providing a history of Ronnie Scott’s club which includes an illuminating interview with club co-owner Michael Watt. Other fascinating sidebars pop up throughout the book.
 
Billy Cobham emerges from these pages as an exemplary creative personality, and as a dedicated, tireless and likeable professional. The book is highly recommended to anyone who has a serious interest in jazz-rock, the life of the musician, and popular music culture of the last fifty years.
 
To order, go here.
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Billy Cobham•Books•Uncategorized

Recorded Livestream of a Show from Current Billy Cobham Tour

September 26, 2019 by briangruber No Comments

Thanks to Mike Paschall for sharing this.  A recording of the livestream from Billy Cobham and the band in Ardmore Music Hall. Wonderful stuff.

 

 

 

The tour features legendary trumpeter Randy Brecker. Here is an excerpt from my interview with Randy for “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation.”

 

GRUBER: It fascinates me that Bill at 73 is not only touring a lot but almost every year producing new music. What is it for men like you and Bill that motivates you to continue to create and innovate when you can simply play other people’s music or rely on things you might have done years ago?

 

BRECKER: It’s a good question and I don’t know if I can put myself on a level of Billy’s output, which is really just incredible, but I think it has to do with, after you do something, it gets old pretty quickly. So, we are always trying, we just want to play something new, we can’t rest on our laurels too long. Plus, this is what we do. We don’t have many outside interests. You find that with a lot of great artists. I’m very close for instance with Paul Simon, and a tour manager that works with Paul and Bob Dylan. I asked him the same question, how come most guys are still killing themselves on tour? Not everybody has to do it. He said, “Look man, they don’t know what else to do with themselves.” Other than play, write music and tour, I don’t have a lot of outside interests. Of course my famIly, I want to be home sometime, but that’s what motivates us I think. We love to play. And for my money, I think Bill is, I swear to God, playing better than ever. I heard him in Brazil, maybe two, three years ago with Jeff Berlin and Scott Henderson, it was a trio and man, he just played better than ever. Everything is just settled now. It’s incredible.

 

GRUBER: When you watch him in YouTube videos from the ’70’s and ’80’s, to now, he really does have quite a physical presence.

 

BRECKER: And let me say one other thing. In the ensuing years, I wouldn’t play with him regularly, more like a special guest thing. But every time I did, I noticed he always brought something new to the table. Not only new music, the way he played, it always fascinated me. Some kind of new drum that he invented or something I never heard before. That alone, throughout the years, is quite an accomplishment.

 

GRUBER: Do you have some favorite memories on or off-stage?

 

BRECKER: There are a lot of them. How do I narrow it down? I was just always completely knocked out playing with him. (Laughs.) I probably shouldn’t say this. I remember he was so confident of his playing – as he should have been because I think he was the greatest drummer and still is – but when drum machines first came out, he tried to overdub the drum machine over his track. That didn’t work too well. I remember the look on his face.

 

GRUBER: Where do you think he fits in the history of percussion? How would you sum up his cumulative contribution to the music world?

 

BRECKER: He always would mention Tony Williams and Jack. After that period it was just Billy as far as I am concerned. The guy who originated the whole thing was Bill. The fact that he has been playing so long and is still this great, places him at the forefront of jazz drumming, of composition. He has had the same kind of influence on drummers that Jaco had on bass players.

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Billy Cobham•Travel•Writing Coaching

October Travel: Book Signings, Writing Coaching, Friends and Family

September 21, 2019 by briangruber No Comments

I will be on the road for most of October, leaving on the 2nd, returning on the 24th, and look forward to seeing friends and family throughout the visit.  Here’s a look at the itinerary.

 

 

 

 

I will join Billy Cobham, Randy Brecker, and the Crosswinds tour band for their performances, notably,

Jazz Alley, Seattle, October 3-6

Kuumbwa, Santa Cruz, October 10

Blue Note, Napa, October 11-12

 

 

I will be signing copies of “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation” after each show. I especially look forward to meeting Randy Brecker, one of the world’s great jazz trumpeters, and a featured interview in the book.  It will be a particular pleasure to have my daughter Andrea join me at one of the Napa shows, her first time meeting Bill and Faina. Then on to Auburn, for a visit with the now one-year-old Silas.

 

 

Also scheduled are coaching sessions with U.S. clients and continued work on the Surmountable protest book project. I will be proud to be attending the launch of my coaching client Wendy May’s book, “Regenerative Purpose” at San Francisco’s Dolores Park, noon on the 12th. Wendy credits the workshop I facilitated at Koh Phangan’s Mermaid Villa with inspiring her to write the book, and our coaching sessions for completing it. It is a terrific work, on sale soon. I am privileged to have written the book’s foreword.

 

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Brian Gruber is an author, writing coach, and marketing consultant living on the Thai island of Koh Phangan. He has spent 40 years studying, leading, and founding new media companies and projects.

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