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Jimmy Cobb

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Jimmy Cobb was an American jazz drummer, born in 1929 in Washington, D.C. As a boy he stayed up at night to hear jazz on the radio from New York, and in the Catholic church he heard church music. In 1950 he began touring with the saxophonist Earl Bostic. He then played with the singer Dinah Washington, the saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and many others, and also with Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie.

Music and breakthrough

In 1958, on Adderley's recommendation, Cobb joined the sextet of the trumpeter Miles Davis. His best-known work is Kind of Blue (1959), on which he formed the rhythm section with bassist Paul Chambers and the pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly. He also plays on Sketches of Spain (1960) and Someday My Prince Will Come (1961). In 1963 he left Davis and formed a trio with Kelly and Chambers, which also worked with the guitarist Wes Montgomery. Later he played in the Great Jazz Trio with Hank Jones and toured with Sarah Vaughan. Only in 1983 did he make his first record as a leader, So Nobody Else Can Hear.

Influence

Cobb was a modest drummer who never put himself in the foreground. His playing was subtle: a light, floating rhythm on the cymbals that carries the soloists without disturbing them. As a result he received less attention than other drummers, but musicians such as Davis admired him. After Davis's death he was for a long time the last living musician of Kind of Blue. He died in 2020.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to So What from Kind of Blue (1959). Notice Cobb's soft, even tap on the cymbals and the single cymbal stroke with which he marks the start of Davis's trumpet solo.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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See also

Categories: Artists