“Six Days” book review on the UK’s number three-rated jazz blog, bebop spoken here:

This is one of those books that you can’t put down although, initially I thought I’d struggle to get beyond the first page, not being a big fan of fusion and it’s practitioners.

That was then! Now, after devouring every word like someone coming off a hunger strike, I find myself listening to Bitches Brew and, if I had any any Mahavishnu albums I’d be listening to them too! Whilst I’d hardly describe myself as a convert, such is the impact of the writing, both by Gruber and Cobham, that you are drawn into the music without even hearing it!

Set over six nights at Ronnie Scott’s it describes not only Cobham’s playing behind Guy Barker’s hand picked British big band (Paul Booth is in the line-up) but also includes the before and after (fly on the wall) conversations with a lot of memories along the way.

Intriguing is the meticulous attention Cobham pays to his kit. Three missing floor tom-tom legs almost became a world (jazz) crisis. Every drummer in the universe should study Cobham’s tuning of his drums. He pitches them as carefully as any horn or string player so that he is in accord with what is going on around him.

But, apart from the description of the gig which sold-out 6 nights running, there are also his memories of the many previous highlights in his illustrious career. There was his time in the army where, by a fortuitous posting, he was able to spend time at home and do some moonlighting jazz club gigs in the evening. His big time breakthrough with Horace Silver which brought him fame if not fortune leading to the ensuing super stardom with Miles, the Breckers, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and his present status where he has annually pulled full houses at Ronnie’s for 11 consecutive years.

Needless to say, author Gruber extracts opinions from him on the various musicians he has worked with. He speaks frankly and honestly. His opinions, although never malicious, come across as genuine and observant.

To sum up, it’s one helluva book. I didn’t need to be at Ronnie’s for those 6 nights – I’ve just been there! Every unheard note and drum beat is ingrained inside me.

A snapshot of some of the recent reviews that have come in for “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s.” Thanks to all the reviewers for their generous and detailed look at the work. 

What They Are Saying About “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s”

“The book is a massive undertaking… Despite being raised a generation and culture apart from Bed-Sty raised Panamanian born William Emanuel Cobham, Jr., Gruber manages to pull off a remarkable feat of music journalism… The interviews with Cobham cover a galaxy of subjects; from the cruel realities of the New York public school system, to the rhythmic complexity of a woman sashaying when walking or the sonic intricacies of live performance…There is so much information in this book that any serious student of Jazz, Fusion or music history will reap a bountiful harvest…A nice touch is the Spotify Soundtrack for each chapter of the book that contains some very unexpected musical gems. Hats off to Brian Gruber who accomplished what few could have written with such elaborate authority.” – TWatts, Cadence Jazz Magazin

From Jon Newey, editor-in-chief of Jazzwise,the UK’s biggest selling monthly jazz magazine and the leading English language jazz magazine in Europe. “An interesting concept… his questions are knowledgeable and penetrating… rather than dallying in the kind of film-flam that obfuscates the detail, memories and opinions that make a biography breathe… Fast paced with anecdotes pouring from every page, it wraps with Cobham describing his dream line-up to play with. Want to know who? Then go grab a copy.”

From London’s Jazz FM,the UK’s “home of jazz, soul and blues” on Nigel Williams’ Saturday show, August 25th, Jazz FM’s highest rated weekly program. “The mark of a good read is something that conjures up pictures and just in that description, you’re already putting yourself backstage and seeing these conversations happen… an absolutely fascinating read. Any fan is obviously going to enjoy this.”

From Brent Keefe, Drumheadmagazine.“Remarkably, Brian Gruber’s book is the first written on this legendary musician and although not a biography, it’s certainly biographical, overlaying six days at Ronnie Scott’s with six decades of Billy’s remarkable life and career… It’s a fascinating read… Cobham opens up and discusses several topics that I have not previously seen him discuss. It’s a terrific insight into the musical and personal life of this game-changing, world class drummer and is an essential read for fans of Cobham, Jazz, fusion and the culture of the 60s and 70s.”

From Geoff Nicholls, Rhythm magazine.Five stars (highest rating). “Well-written and thought-provoking, Gruber’s book builds into a challenging document of a half-century of cutting-edge musical exploration.”

From Eric “Doc” Smith, BeyondChron.“Brian Gruber’s fantastic new book… gives us a rare, behind the scenes look at the making of a six night performance… Gruber virtually puts the reader in the cafe, the nightclub, or in the car alongside him and Cobham. There are so many fantastic stories and so much musical history… Brian Gruber’s Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation, will certainly stand the test of time alongside some of the greatest tomes ever penned about jazz musicians.”

DownBeat, the “granddaddy of music magazines” has just asked to do a review of the book. Jazz FM, London’s premiere jazz radio station interviewed me for a feature on their highest rated show, airing Saturday, August 25.

There is a new, superb review from the UK’s top jazz magazine Jazzwise.

And this from Eric “Doc” Smith.

“Brian Gruber’s fantastic new book… has captured Cobham’s anecdotes, insights, and humor like no one before him… Gruber gives us a rare, behind the scenes look at the making of a six night performance… Gruber virtually puts the reader in the cafe, the nightclub, or in the car alongside him and Cobham. There are so many fantastic stories and so much musical history…

“Brian Gruber’s “Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation”, will certainly stand the test of time alongside some of the greatest tomes ever penned about jazz musicians.”

READ THE FULL REVIEW here.

Music critic Geoff Gehman interviews Bill during the Crosswinds tour with a nice mention of the new book.

Q: You collaborated with Brian Gruber on a new book about your life, career and world view set during last year’s sets with Barker’s big band at Ronnie Scott’s. Why did you decide to go so deep with Gruber? I know he’s a fellow adventurer from Brooklyn, a new-media specialist who launched a live-streaming showcase for gigs in jazz clubs.

Geoff sent me a follow up note that I don’t mind sharing.

“Looking forward to having your noble, necessary book in my hands. Billy C. is a superior musician, teacher, thinker and envoy. And you and Guy Barker are no slouches, either. All in all  a really well-made match.”

Thanks, Geoff!

Sonic Astronaut

“Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation”

PREFACE  

There was a domestic war in the United States, a growing ‘generation gap’ in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s even as the conflict in Vietnam was escalating. I was 14 in March of 1970, my brother Jeff a wise but wild role model at the advanced age of 19.

My earliest memory is of my mother Claire tying my shoes at three years old at our Legion Street, Brooklyn tenement. But my fiercest early memory was Mom raging at Jeff in our East New York, Brooklyn housing-project apartment upon finding anti-war paraphernalia. Five decades later, I can tell you exactly what one button said: “The Great Society, Bombs, Bullets, Bullshit.”

It was a political and cultural divide and music was smack on the front lines. Jazz, firmly established as America’s popular music, had been overwhelmed by rock and roll, which my parents despised. Anti-war buttons aside, and well before music might be safely sequestered in iTunes libraries, vinyl ‘records’ littered teenage bedroom floors, with designs, liner notes and musical forms aspiring to subvert the existing order. Relatively clueless, as I trailed my brother’s political and musical evolution by a half decade, I could tell the degree of subversion by the pitch of my mother’s voice.

“The Sad Sad World of Mothers and Fathers??!?” That Brute Force title was not well received by Claire, nor were Frank Zappa lyrics, or odd, loud explosions of sound taunting my parents’ more civilized record collection, tucked neatly in the hi-fi stereo cabinet.

Billy Eckstine was a favorite of Mom’s. As was Frank Sinatra. There was Cab Calloway, who my father hired in the ‘30s to perform at his Brooklyn house party. And lots of Al Jolson, who Dad could imitate flawlessly. Some of the records did find some purchase amongst the kids. Dave Brubeck’s odd-metered Take Five. And the first jazz album that turned my head, the breakthrough bossa nova classic, Getz/Gilberto.

In March 1970, President Richard Nixon was promising peace with honor in Vietnam while striking out at the Paris peace talks. But my dad Sol and brother Jeff found their own way to harmonize personal and musical differences: they took me to my first concert. The Fillmore East was Bill Graham’s Manhattan rock and roll mecca, and a unique breeding ground for visual and musical experimentation. The headliner, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, was preceded by the Steve Miller Blues Band. With Miles Davis opening, and performing, among other things, the breakthrough release that is widely considered the birth of jazz-rock ‘fusion,’ Bitches Brew.

No, that’s not quite right. Davis played second.

I was opening for this sorry-ass cat named Steve Miller…didn’t have shit going for him, so I’m pissed because I got to open for this non-playing motherfucker just because he had one or two sorry-ass records out. So, I would come late and he would have to go on first, and then when we go there, we just smoked the motherfucking place and everybody dug it, including Bill. – Miles: The Autobiography, by Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe, Touchstone/ Simon & Schuster, 1989, pg. 301

A few weeks before, William Emmanuel Cobham Junior found himself in a studio recording tracks for Bitches Brew, along with John McLaughlin and an astounding cast of artists who would go on to transform jazz and popular music.

I first met Billy Cobham just before my birthday in August of 2010. I was spending a good part of the summer at friend Marynell Maloney’s home in France’s Loire River valley. A few days earlier, just across the river in Jargeau, Joan of Arc’s old stomping grounds, I was reading in an open-air plaza, sipping a glass of local wine, when three musicians suddenly set up a few yards away. They proceeded to perform an acoustic rendition of Chick Corea’s Spain. After their shockingly good performance, I introduced myself and got their card. Marynell invited them to perform at the birthday party and I casually suggested Bill might join them. She rightly scorned the idea, a legend playing with local musicians, won’t happen. But after dinner, as they played on the patio under a starry sky, he did just that on a tiny drum set. A friend of Bill’s remarked, “He can’t help himself.”

In the years since, I have seen Bill perform in Paris, Milan, Rio and numerous U.S. cities. As he plugged his iPad into my car audio system, he would share a never-ending stream of stories that were not only insightful, bawdy and astounding, but also provided a unique panorama of the last half-century of American music. So, when Bill told me he was collaborating with Britain’s hottest arranger, jazz trumpeter Guy Barker, to orchestrate and perform his oeuvre with a 17-piece big band at Europe’s premiere jazz club Ronnie Scott’s, I thought: why not hang out backstage, in rehearsals and at the bar during the six-day run and finally gather those stories. Not a biography, but an oral history exploring six decades of music, an improvised series of encounters during one special week. Talk to the greats who have played with him, club owners, music critics, friends and family to explore the source of Billy Cobham’s musical power and joy, this jazz fusion pioneer and innovator, and discover what motivates him to continue to create at the age of 73.

Guy is calling the six-day residency at Ronnie’s “a celebration of Bill’s life and work in music.” Billy Cobham, a guy voted year after year as the greatest drummer in the world, considered the greatest living jazz fusion drummer, one-time bandmate of Miles Davis, Randy Brecker, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Ron Carter, George Duke, Stan Getz, Muhammad Ali (!), George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Billy Taylor, Horace Silver, from incarnations of the Grateful Dead and Jack Bruce to Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD, the list seems endless.

Back in the chateau’s expansive dining room, I asked Bill if he had any birthday advice for me. He answered without hesitation, “Live your life with reckless abandon.”

I’m working on it.

Brian Gruber

December 18, 2017

Koh Phangan, Thailand

To get a sneak preview of the first chapter of the book and sign up for a pre-publication discounted copy of the book when it is released, visit our Contact page.

The life and music of jazz fusion drummer and composer Billy Cobham is the subject of my next book, Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s: Billy Cobham on Jazz Fusion and the Act of Creation. At 73, Bill’s life work is extraordinary, perhaps the most prolific and innovative jazz drummer on the planet. From his early days working at the 52nd Street landmark Hickory House with Dr. Billy Taylor to touring Europe with bebop pioneer Horace Silver, from collaborating with Miles Davis on fusion masterpiece Bitches Brew to helping form the breakthrough Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bill has played with the greats and composed original music for decades. And now, for the first time, his story will come to the world in print.

We are in discussions with publishers but why not get an early start with a sneak preview of the opening chapter? Sign up on our Contact page and get the first section of the book free, plus get on the list for a pre-publication discount copy when we go to press.