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Global jazz master returns: Fans of early '70s jazz had few options to choose from. With straight ahead bop lingering in ignominy and the older '50s/'60s guard gone to seed or wasting away in unappreciated status (Gene Krupa on ice anyone?), only fusion carried a banner for the youth. The fiery Mahavishnu Orchestra laid waste to stadium crowds across the US, for one tour even pairing up with the Allman Brothers Band and the Faces. Lead by egotistical guitarist John McLaughlin and including innovative keyboardist Jan Hammer and galvanic drummer Billy Cobham, Mahavishnu forged a new kind of jazz, a surging, doom-laden style built on both melodic/harmonic brilliance (and speed!) and testosterone infused rhythms. Cobham furthered the muscle of drummer Tony Williams, whose own Lifetime actually invented the modern fusion template.

Cobham's rhythms fired Mahavishnu's epic crunch with incredible power, speed and complex note selections, but it was on his first solo album, Spectrum, that heads really turned. Here was a drummer who could peel back your ears, for sure, but with such compositions as "Le Lis" and "Stratus," Cobham showed that he was also a gifted composer, the songs blending lithe jazz rock rhythms and melancholy, bittersweet melodies. "Taurian Matador" and "Red Baron," meanwhile, proved Cobham's gift for extracting shredding performances from his sidemen, in this case, Jan Hammer and Deep Purple guitarist Tommy Bolin.

Through the years Cobham's music has been sampled for pop hits (Massive Attack's "Safe from Harm") and numerous car commercials. A fella has to eat, right?

Dozens of albums later Cobham returns to ‘07 with Drum 'n' Voice Due 2. Wiser and no doubt older, Cobham has tempered his furious tom assaults and dazzling groove spectacles. Drum 'n' Voice Due 2 is not the kind of gray haired, $$$ only CD you might expect from an aging jazz innovator in need of a paycheck, however, it's a freewheeling recording that is nothing less than enjoyable. Recorded in Italy, it includes a marvelous lineup: Brian Auger (Hammond organ), Buddy Miles (vocal), Frank Gambale, Dominic Miller (guitars), Jeff Berlin (bass), Guy Barker (flugelhorn), Airto Moreira (percussion), and old pal Jan Hammer.

"Waveform" recalls the classic disco grooves of Cobham's A Funky Thide of Sings; the silky smooth "Let Me Breathe" recalls Massive Attack's take on Cobham's own "Stratus"; "Amazon" blasts a Brazilian baio beat with help from percussionist Airto Moreira. 

Billy Cobham
"Waveform" (mp3)
from "Drum 'n' Voice Due 2"
(Nicolosi Productions)

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Billy Cobham
"Let Me Breathe" (mp3)
from "Drum 'n' Voice Due 2"
(Nicolosi Productions)

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Billy Cobham
"Amazon" (mp3)
from "Drum 'n' Voice Due 2"
(Nicolosi Productions)

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Chicago trendsetter: Chicago guitarist John McLean returns with his second album of blistering bop, and man, can this guy play! Beautiful tone, smoking solos and well conceived compositions shows why he never left Chicago--when you are this gifted the hometown fans keep you busy and cash flush. Better Angels title track steers a bit too close to Pat Metheny "soaring over mountains" style, but "Ready For Water" dips its toe in a Brazilian pond, McLean comping acoustic guitar to Grazyna Auguscik's lush vocal.

John Mclean
"Better Angels" (mp3)
from "Better Angels"
(Origin Records)

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John Mclean
"Ready For The Water" (mp3)
from "Better Angels"
(Origin Records)

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