Jimmy Cobb

Drummer Jimmy Cobb played on what some consider to be the definitive jazz recording, Miles Davis’
“Kind of Blue,” spending five years in his band. From Washington D.C., Cobb built his reputation as an accompanist in the 1950’s, working with artists such as Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderly and Earl Bostic, with whom he made his first recordings. Cobb joined Miles in 1957, playing on albums not only with Davis, but with John Coltrane as well
(including the “Giant Steps” sessions). Subsequently, Jimmy, along with pianist Wynton Kelly and bassist Paul Chambers, left Miles’ band and worked as a trio behind Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and J.J. Johnson. Cobb then joined Sarah Vaughan, touring with her throughout the 1970’s. Mostly self taught, Cobb is a consummate team player and peerless timekeeper, who is all about the big picture—
making the music swing. - http://www.stanfordjazz.org

Jimmy Cobb and Cassandra Wilson Perform at the Kimmel Center This November
Posted: 2008-10-10

Kind of Blue Turns 50-The Jimmy Cobb Band-Honoring Jimmy Cobb
Saturday, November 1, 2008
7:30pm
Perelman Theater
Price: $32 and $38

The Kimmel Center’s Jazz Up Close Series during the 2008-09 season celebrates the 50th anniversary
of Miles Davis’ quintessential jazz album, Kind of Blue, with five concerts paying tribute to the men who made it legendary. The first concert in the series honors drummer Jimmy Cobb, the lone surviving
member of the historic 1959 session, on Saturday, November 1, 2008 in Perelman Theater. A
formative figure in the development of jazz, Cobb will be awarded the National Endowments for
the Arts Jazz Masters Award, the nation’s highest honor in jazz, in 2009.

Cobb has attained international renown as a band leader, an accompanist and a solo artist, and
in much-heralded collaborations with Wynton Kelly, Wes Montgomery, the Adderley Brothers and
Sarah Vaughan. His signature rhythmic textures can be heard on hundreds of albums throughout
the past five decades. The elder statesman of all the Miles Davis bands, Cobb’s inspirational work
has appeared on such seminal Davis albums as Sketches of Spain, Someday My Prince Will Come,
Porgy and Bess, among many other landmark recordings. He has performed and recorded
extensively with luminaries such as Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry,
Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Ricky Ford, Hank Jones, George Coleman, Fathead Newman
and many others.

Cobb’s extensive discography includes the two-disc Miles Davis tribute Miles from India (2008), for
which he joined with two dozen musicians including fellow Davis alumni Chick Corea, Gary Bartz and
Ron Carter and a contingent of Indian musicians. The album puts a pan-global spin on such classics
as “All Blues," “Spanish Key," “So What" and “It s About That Time." In 2007, Cobb released Cobb’s
Corner with his quartet, which included Roy Hargrove, Ronnie Mathews and Peter Washington; as
well as a tribute to Kind of Blue, Essence of Green, with Ron di Salvio. Cobb continues to tour with
his band Cobb’s Mob, with whom he is currently working on a new live album.

This is the first performance in the Jazz Up Close: Kind of Blue Turns 50 series. The next performance
in the series is the Fred Hersch Trio, Honoring Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly on
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 7:30pm.

Jimmy Cobb, drums
Corcoran Holt, bass
Javon Jackson, sax
Russell Malone, guitar
Eric Reed, piano

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=24137 - All About Jazz

January 05, 2009

There's a moment on Miles Davis' Stella by Starlight in 1958 that crystallizes drummer Jimmy Cobb's brilliance. It happens in a flash as Davis holds the final note of his trumpet solo and John Coltrane
comes in on tenor saxophone. Typically, drummers don't get a chance to make that much of a difference
on jazz recordings, save for keeping time and egging on soloists. But in this case, Jimmy's seamless change from wispy brushes behind Miles to solid wood rim shots to support Coltrane completely
changes the mood and energy level of the standard. What had been up until that moment a sound
akin to tiptoeing on hot gravel instantly felt like a breakaway gallop. Once Coltrane wrapped,
Jimmy once again swapped sticks for brushes behind Bill Evans' solo.

These tasteful shifts perfectly define Jimmy Cobb's combination of sensitivity and power. No matter the recording, Jimmy's drumming always expresses a restrained tension that never fails to move the needle
on the listener's anxiety level. Jimmy's ability to accompany artists by building a smoldering intensity with brushes and sticks—without stealing their thunder—is one of the many reasons why he has always
been in demand as a session player with the greatest names in jazz.

In Part 1 of my four-part interview with the legendary drummer and remaining member of the Kind of
Blue recording session, Jimmy talks about his early years, his personal and professional relationship
with Dinah Washington, and meeting and playing with Cannonball Adderley:

JazzWax:
Your first recording was in 1951, on Earl Bostic's Flamingo, a massive hit.

Jimmy Cobb:
Yeah, it sold a lot of records. A lot of those Earl Bostic [pictured] songs had the same general beat
because Bostic had a thing he had to do to make money. He was a great saxophone player. He could
play some notes on the horn that weren’t there. A whole octave above what the instrument was
supposed to do. When [John] Coltrane came into his band, he learned a lot from Bostic. Like playing
three notes at once and notes above what the horn could do.
Bostic could make his alto sound like a tenor.

More...

www.jazzwax.com/2009/01/interview-jimmy.html - http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/01/interview-jimmy.html

Miles Davis Kind of Blue remains the best selling and most influential jazz album of all time. Yoshi's in Oakland will be celebrating the 50th aniverary of that classic by hosting a stelar group of musicians to explore that music on Wednesday, June 10th through Sunday, June 14th. The "So What Band" features Miles Davis' protégé Wallace Roney on trumpet, Vincent Herring on alto saxophone, Javon Jackson on tenor sax, Larry Willis on piano, Buster Williams on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Jimmy Cobb is the only surviving musician who performed on Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue in 1959.

Known for his work as both an accomplished accompanist and soloist, jazz drummer NEA Jazz Master, Jimmy Cobb was born in Washington, DC, on January 20, 1929. Largely self-taught, Cobb spent his years in DC playing engagements with Charlie Rouse, Frank Wess, and Billie Holiday, among others.

Jimmy CobbCobb left DC in 1950 to join Earl Bostic, with whom he cut his first recordings. Cobb played extensively with Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Cannonball Adderley, before joining Miles Davis in 1957. Between 1957 and 1963 Cobb worked with Davis, John Coltrane, and Adderly. He also played on the Miles Davis recordings Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, Someday My Prince Will Come, Live at Carnegie Hall, Live at the Blackhawk, Porgy and Bess, among others. In 1963, Cobb left the Davis band to continue to work with his rhythm section: Winton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Wes Montgomery. After disbanding the band in the late 1960s, Cobb worked with Sarah Vaughn for nine years and then freelanced for the next 20 years with artists and groups such as Sonny Stitt, Nat Adderly, Ricky Ford, Hank Jones, Ron Carter, George Coleman, David "Fathead" Newman, and The Great Jazz Trio with Nancy Wilson.

Jimmy Cobb continues to play music in New York City, where he lives with his wife and two children. He now leads the Jimmy Cobb "So What" Band, celebrating 50 years of Kind of Blue and the music of Miles Davis, and travels the international circuit as he approaches his 80th birthday. Cobb currently teaches master classes at Stanford University's Jazz Workshop and has taught at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, the University of Greensboro in North Carolina, the International Center for the Arts at San Francisco State University in California, and international educational institutions.

Jazz trumpeter extraordinaire Wallace Roney, who much like his mentor Miles Davis, is a highly skilled, expressive performer and an active force in the evolution of jazz. While being one of the most accomplished and acclaimed trumpeters in jazz today, Roney remains one of today's most misunderstood jazz masters. Roney rose to national prominence in the 1980's as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, earning favorable notice as a young lion with impressive technique in the Clifford Brown-Lee Morgan-Freddie Hubbard tradition. By the middle of the decade Roney was holding down a difficult dual membership with both the Messengers and Tony Williams' Quintet. Soon he began to display a more thoughtful and spacious approach to sound and improvisation -- one that nodded in the direction of Williams' former leader, Miles Davis, who by that time had befriended the young trumpeter, having given him the blue horn that is his trademark.
Javon Jackson met the legendary Art Blakey one night at Mikell's, a New York City jazz club. After sitting in with the Messengers, Javon's skill on the tenor led to an invitation to join the group. Those years under the tutelage of Blakey involved intensive study of both interplay and improvisation. Performing alongside Terence Blanchard, Kenny Garrett, Wallace Roney and Benny Green, Javon appeared on several recordings with Blakey, including Not Yet (Soul Note), One For All (A&M) and Chippin' In (Timeless). Javon remained with the Messengers for over three years until Blakey's death in 1990. Javon earned his degree from Berklee while continuing to tour with Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Charlie Haden and Cedar Walton. Javon spent several years touring with a host of jazz greats, as well as his own groups, concentrating on technique and composition. He earned his master's degree in music and a position as Assistant Professor of Jazz Education at SUNY Purchase College.

Vincent Herring played sax at West Point in the U.S. Military Band. Dubbed a “Young Lion” in the early 80s, he toured with the Lionel Hampton Band before his big break with Nat Adderley's band, displaying a style in the vein of Nat’s brother, Cannonball. Notes International Jazz Productions, “Vincent has developed into a virtuoso with a voice that is uniquely intense and vigorous with the energy and direction.” Regarding his place in the Cannonball chair with the Legacy Band, Jazz Times (November 2002) noted that he has “formidable technique and the appropriately aggressive attitude to put it over. Like Adderley, Herring tells a story when he plays, quotes other songs in his solos…and always plays hip turnarounds at the ends of his phrases.” (For more information on Vincent Herring, see www.vincentherring.com)
- JazzPolice.com

For Kind Of Blue (its Legacy Edition released back in January), Miles Davis and Bill Evans--both followers of pianist George Russell's modal brand of jazz--attempted a more inspired approach by loosely charting the songs, then freshly introducing them to the players on the recording dates. The resulting improvisational works are considered the most influential of their era, their assembly the best selling jazz album of all time. Featuring John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley along with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb, this Legacy Edition includes the original album plus alternate takes (with "So What" in its first official, over-seventeen minute version), studio dialog that gives you a bird's ear view of the sessions' genius, and tracks recorded the previous year that include "Stella By Starlight," "On Green Dolphin Street," and Cole Porter's "Love For Sale."

8READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-
www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/emthank-god-its-thursdaye_b_220588.html - Huffington Post - New York,NY,USA

"In the church of jazz, the album 'Kind of Blue' is one of the holy relics," writes Ashley Kahn in "Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece" (DaCapo Press, 2000), one of two books written exclusively about the celebrated album.

The magical music was brought to life by an equally magical collection of musicians. Joining Davis and Evans were John Coltrane on tenor sax, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley on alto sax, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Pianist Wynton Kelly performed on one tune, the bouncing and bluesy "Freddie Freeloader."

All were greats on their instruments. Cobb is the only survivor from that day. At age 80, he's still a master, performing with a list of greats over the years and leading his own bands. On Saturday at Freihofer's festival, he will re-create "Kind of Blue" with a superior group of some of today's top jazz talents. The group is on a world tour this year to celebrate the anniversary.

www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=813485&category=ARTS - By R.J. DELUKE, Special to the Times Union