Billy Cobham : Spectrum 1973

William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian-American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

According to AllMusic's reviewer, Cobham is "generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer". He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013.Cobham started the jazz rock group Dreams with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, and John Abercrombie.

Cobham's debut album, Spectrum (1973), surprised him and his record company when it reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Jazz Albums chart and No. 26 on the Top 200 Albums chart.

Drummer Billy Cobham was fresh from his success with the Mahavishnu Orchestra when he recorded his

debut album, which is still his best. Most of the selections showcase Cobham in a quartet with keyboardist Jan Hammer, guitarist Tommy Bolin, and electric bassist Lee Sklar.

Two other numbers include Joe Farrell on flute and soprano and trumpeter Jimmy Owens with guitarist John Tropea, Hammer, bassist Ron Carter, and Ray Barretto on congas. The generally high-quality compositions (which include "Red Baron") make this fusion set a standout, a strong mixture of rock-ish rhythms and jazz improvising.

Cobham is one of the first drummers to play open-handed lead a drummer who plays on a right-handed set but leads with his left hand on the hi-hat instead of crossing over with his right (and also has his ride cymbal on the left side, instead of the traditional right). He typically plays with multiple toms and double bass drums and was well known in the 1970s for his large drum kits.

He moved further into jazz fusion when he toured with Miles Davis and recorded Davis's albums Bitches Brew and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. In 1971, he and guitarist John McLaughlin left Davis to start the Mahavishnu Orchestra, another group that fused rock, funk, and jazz.

Cobham moved to Switzerland in 1985 and he lives in a village just outside Bern.

TRACKS

01. Quadrant 4     4:20
02. Searching For The Right Door     1:24
03. Spectrum (Acoustic Bass – Ron Carter Congas – Ray Barretto Flugelhorn – Jimmy Owens Flute, Soprano Saxophone – Joe Farrell) 5:09
04. Anxiety     1:41
05. Taurian Matador     3:03
06. Stratus     9:50
07. To The Women In My Life     0:51
08. Le Lis (Acoustic Bass – Ron Carter Congas – Ray Barretto Flugelhorn, Trumpet – Jimmy OwensFlute, Alto Saxophone – Joe Farrell Guitar – John Tropea) 3:20
09. Snoopy's Search     1:02
10. Red Baron     6:37

Bonus Track

11. All 4 One (Out-Take) (Acoustic Bass – Ron Carter Alto Saxophone – Joe Farrell Congas – Ray Barretto Flugelhorn, Trumpet – Jimmy OwensGuitar – John Tropea)
4:16

Track 11 is a bonus track, not on the original LP.
   
Label : Atlantic – 8122731742, Warner Jazz – 8122731742
Series : Atlantic Masters –
Format : CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Digipak

MEMBRES :

    Billy Cobham - drums, percussion, production
    Jan Hammer - electric and acoustic pianos, Moog synthesizer
    Ken Scott - recording and re-mix engineering

Additional personnel on "Quadrant 4", "Taurian Matador", "Stratus", and "Red Baron"

    Tommy Bolin - guitar
    Lee Sklar - electric bass

Additional personnel on "Spectrum" and "Le Lis"

    Joe Farrell - soprano and alto saxes, flute
    Jimmy Owens - flugelhorn, trumpet
    John Tropea - guitar on "Le Lis"
    Ron Carter - acoustic bass
    Ray Barretto - congas


FLAC Size : 258 MB

Mahavishnu Orchestra : Birds Of Fire 1973

The band's first lineup featured English guitarist "Mahavishnu" John McLaughlin, Panamanian drummer Billy Cobham, Irish bassist Rick Laird, Czechoslovakian keyboardist Jan Hammer, and American violinist Jerry Goodman. McLaughlin had worked with Cobham and Goodman on his third solo album My Goal's Beyond (1971), and asked Cobham to become the drummer in his new jazz-rock fusion band he wished to form, which he accepted. The violin was an instrument that had interested McLaughlin since childhood, and could not have Jean-Luc Ponty, his first choice, due to immigration problems.

McLaughlin had particular ideas for the instrumentation of the group, in keeping with his highly original concept of genre-blending in composition. He particularly wanted a violinist as an integral contributor to its overall sound.



As the group evolved, McLaughlin adopted what became his visual trademark — a double neck guitar (six-string and twelve-string) which allowed for a great degree of diversity in musical textures—and Hammer became one of the first to play a Minimoog synthesizer in an ensemble, which enabled him to add more sounds and solo more freely, alongside the guitar and the violin.

Birds of Fire is Mahavishnu Orchestra's second album. It was released during the first half of 1973 and is the last studio album released by the original band line-up before it dissolved, although Between Nothingness & Eternity, a live album, was recorded and released later that same year. The final studio recordings by this line-up would be released as The Lost Trident Sessions in 1999.

As with the Mahavishnu Orchestra's previous album, The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire consists solely of compositions by John McLaughlin. This includes the track "Miles Beyond (Miles Davis)", which McLaughlin dedicated to his friend and former bandleader.

 Birds of Fire is audibly more varied in texture, even more tightly organized, and thankfully more musical in content. A remarkable example of precisely choreographed, high-speed solo trading -- with John McLaughlin, Jerry Goodman, and Jan Hammer all of one mind, supported by Billy Cobham's machine-gun drumming and Rick Laird's dancing bass -- can be heard on the aptly named "One Word," and the title track is a defining moment of the group's nearly atonal fury.

TRACKS

01.Birds of Fire     5:50
02.Miles Beyond (Miles Davis)     4:47
03.Celestial Terrestrial Commuters     2:54
04.Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love     0:24
05.Thousand Island Park     3:23
06.Hope     1:59
07.One Word     9:57
08.Sanctuary     5:05
09.Open Country Joy     3:56
10.Resolution     2:09

Members

John McLaughlin - guitars
Rick Laird - bass
Billy Cobham - drums, percussion
Jan Hammer - keyboards, Moog synthesizer
Jerry Goodman - violin
Ken Scott - Engineer

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN


John McLaughlin (born 4 January 1942 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England), also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer. His music includes many genres of jazz which he coupled with elements of rock, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco and blues to become one of the pioneering figures in fusion.

His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.

McLaughlin has been cited as an influence by a number of prominent musicians. He is a Grammy award winner and has been awarded multiple "Guitarist of the year" and "Best Jazz Guitarist" awards from magazines such as Down Beat and Guitar Player based on reader polls. In 2003,

RICK LAIRD

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Laird played music from a young age and enrolled for guitar and piano lessons. He started playing jazz after moving to New Zealand at the age of 16 with his father. He played guitar in jam bands in New Zealand before buying an upright bass. After extensive touring in New Zealand he moved to Sydney, Australia, where he played with many top jazz musicians including Don Burrows.

He moved to England in 1962 and became house bassist at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London, playing with many greats including the guitarist Wes Montgomery and Sonny Stitt and even with Buddy Rich, most notably the residence at The Talk of the Town in 1969. From 1963 to 1964 Laird was at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was recorded on Sonny Rollins's record Alfie and played in The Brian Auger Trinity (July 1963-February 1964) and The Brian Auger Group (February–October 1964).

BILLY COBHAM

William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian-American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. According to AllMusic's reviewer, Cobham is "generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer". He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2

JERRY GOODMAN

Jerry Goodman (born March 16, 1949, Chicago, Illinois) is an American violinist best known for playing electric violin in the bands The Flock and the jazz fusion Mahavishnu Orchestra. Goodman actually began his musical career as The Flock's roadie before joining the band on violin. Trained in the conservatory, both of his parents were in the string section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His uncle was the noted composer and jazz pianist Marty Rubenstein.

After his 1970 appearance on John McLaughlin's album My Goal's Beyond, he became a member of McLaughlin's original Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup until the band broke up in 1973, and was viewed as a soloist of equal virtuosity to McLaughlin, keyboardist Jan Hammer and drummer Billy Cobham.

MP3 Size : 94.1 MB 
FLAC Size : 248 MB