Jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb died in Harlem this past Sunday. The New York Times was a bit tardy in coming through with an obituary, but the one filed by Giovanni Russonello yesterday was definitely worth the wait. Cobb’s name may not be as familiar as those of Art Blakey and Elvin Jones, but he was a major figure in the recordings that Miles Davis made after leaving Prestige and signing with Columbia. That move saw Davis grow his combo from a quintet to a sextet, sharing his trumpet work on the front line with two saxophonists, John Coltrane on tenor (from the earlier quintet) and Cannonball Adderley on alto. [added 5:50 p.m.: I just realized that Russonello’s obituary for Cobb appeared on the date that would have been Davis’ 94th birthday!]
The original rhythm section for that sextet consisted on Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Cobb succeeded Jones in the spring of 1968, around the same time that Bill Evans succeeded Garland. The tracks recorded at the first session of this new sextet, which took place on May 26, 1958 showed up on two Columbia albums, Jazz Track, which was released on October 19, 1959, and Black Giants, which was not released until May of 1975.
Miles Davis on the cover of his Kind of Blue album (from the Amazon.com Web page for this recording)
However, the sessions that had the greatest impact on jazz history as we now know it took place on March 2 and April 22 of 1959. These were the tracks that were released on the album Kind of Blue. Four of the album’s five tracks (“So What,” “Freddie Freeloader,” “Blue in Green,” and “All Blues”) were recorded in a single take. “Flamenco Sketches” had one alternate take; but both takes are included on the CD version of the album.
Cobb never took an extended solo on any of these tracks. Davis saw him provide the foundation for charts that provided little more than rough sketches of melody for each of the compositions. Russonello quoted Cobb recalling the instructions that Davis gave him:
He said, “Jimmy, you know what to do. Just make it sound like it’s floating.”
Cobb clearly delivered what Davis wanted.
Indeed, one might even say that there are no real “tunes” on this album. Rather, each track introduces itself through little more than a motif or two. As Miles requested, each of those motifs “floats” across the sextet, allowing each front line player to improvise around it. In the rhythm section Chambers gets ample opportunity to work a bass line around the essence of the motif, while Evans’ talent for interleaving melody and harmony anticipates the keyboard work that we would subsequently follow intently when he became a leader of his own combo.
The Wikipedia page of Kind of Blue claims the album “has been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz record.” Those who have followed my writing for some time probably know that I do not like to play that game. On the other hand, the staying power of an album often lies in the impact that resonates through other performers. In that respect I think it is important to recognize that Jon Hendricks created a brilliant transcription of “Freddie Freeloader” in which Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau, George Benson, and Hendricks himself “covered” the recorded performances by pianist Winton Kelly (on this track of Kind of Blue only), Davis, Adderley, and Coltrane, respectively, while Cobb was on hand to again “make it float;” and Fate allowed him to outlive the other five members of that historically-significant sextet. Kind of Blue is not only a significant creation; it also offers a foundation for subsequent re-creation.
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