Billy Cobham Spectrum 40 concert

Spectrum is an amazing album and Billy a terrific drummer

I have his autograph from the late 70s when he performed with George Duke, Alphonso Johnson and I forget the guitar player but they brought the house down!

Yeah, I saw Billy doing most of Spectrum back in the mid-70s. They were the backup band for Rick Wakeman at DAR Constitution Hall in DC.

Billy was *incredible*, fastest hands I've ever seen. And his forearms looked like taut bands of steel. If that man grabbed you by the neck, he could pop your head off with a single squeeze.

And he had a VERY cool drumset - it was bright yellow and was formed such that the drums were curved and the bottoms pointed out towards the audience. And the "mouths" of those bottoms were flared, kinda like the horn of a trombone. He and his band absolutely killed, best drumming performance I've ever seen! And I think the guitarist was Tommy Bolin - he was incredible!!

-RW-

RW

I agree about the fastest hands - invisible really

and now that you remind me the drumset was set up in that fashion

pretty cool

One of a kind drummer.
Is he still playing a large drum kit? Does he still use North Drums?

Huge drum kit. Sibian cymbals not sure about the drums,
Mind blowing at his ability and quickness at age 70.

One of my all-time favorite drummers. I saw him twice with the first Mahavishnu Orch. and once with Bob Weir.

I love the first part of Miles Davis' "Right Off" (side one of "Jack Johnson"). What he and McLaughlin do in the first few minutes is pure gold.

Saw Billy twice with the MO, 3 nights in a row when he premiered his Crosswinds band, and the last time when he was recording for GRP. I always felt he was at his absolute best when he was playing amongst his equals/peers. Unfortunately, he decided to emigrate to Europe decades ago and his star shone less brightly. I must own 30-40 records with BC on them, starting with Dreams (1970!). Nowadays I cherry-pick tunes from his new recordings via the net, he'll always be a favorite!