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ACM is pleased to confirm that LEGENDARY drummer Billy Cobham will be visiting to deliver a drum masterclass on Wednesday 20th February. The masterclass will be taking place in Room 14 of the Rodboro Building from 2.30pm.
About Billy Cobham
Ever since his breakthrough in the early 1970s-as a founding member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and as a drummer/leader whose recordings (such as Spectrum) and powerful, complex style of play exerted a strong influence on the course of jazz and jazz-fusion-Billy Cobham has remained a tireless musical explorer.
Cobham has pursued an ever-broadening, ever-deepening engagement with the world not only as a master drummer and percussionist but as a composer, producer, educator, and clinician who gives service through music even as he constantly expands his personal creative expression.
Cobham, whose first paying gig came at age eight, courtesy of his pianist father, cut his teeth on drumming as a member of St. Catherine’s Queensmen, a drum and bugle corps in St. Albans, Queens. He went on to attend New York’s famed High School of Music and Art, where he studied music theory and drum technique alongside some of today’s great musical legends, including trumpeter Jimmy Owens, bassist Eddie Gomez, and pianist Larry Willis.
After military service, during which he played in the U.S. Army Band as percussionist (1965-68), he recorded steadily as a leader for Atlantic, CBS, Elektra, and GRP, collaborating with artists ranging from George Duke, John Scofield, and Tony Williams to Jack Bruce and the Grateful Dead, both on stage and in the studio.
“Music will tell the world who you are, based on what you present and how you present it. You can’t lie through this medium.”
Billy Cobham
Other highlights include touring and recording with Jazz Is Dead, Paradox, Nordic, and the London Jazz Orchestra; and development of the Conundrum book series, whose titles have music-minus-one capability that allow participants to play along on their specific instruments.
Tickets for the masterclass session are strictly limited, are available from ACM Student Relations.
For more information about Billy Cobham visit his website.
