You are wrong Billy!

The November 2008 issue of JazzTimes features drummer Billy Cobham in the "Before & After" column. While I fully respect Mr. Cobham's prolific output and contribution to modern music, he made a comment that will no doubt fuel great discussion and opinion. Let me be the first to rant.

In an effort to accurately frame the comment, I will make sure readers understand its context. Mr. Cobham was played "Abracadabra" by Cindy Blackman. Upon learning who was playing, Mr. Cobham replied, "She should know better than that. But Tony's days are long gone. That was his Achilles heel. He did not play listening to people, he played louder and louder. He had a record called Ego, and that was his big problem, not listening...When he was with Miles it was about, hey, we've got a 17-year-old brat here playing drums and he's got this new idea. At every other station was an extremely disciplined musician. And along comes this brash young person that could be marketed and they put him in the limelight, when, in fact, he had great ideas but he hadn't been able to really mold them yet." I want to focus this entry on the part about a young Tony Williams not listening to people and not being able to mold great ideas.

The first time I heard Tony Williams was on the track "Seven Steps to Heaven," from the 1963 Columbia recording of the same name. Tony was 17 at this time. Let me ask Mr. Cobham a rhetorical question: "Mr. Cobham, have you heard this recording?" Tony's playing on this particular track immediately rejects your comment that Tony "had great ideas but he hadn't been able to really mold them yet." On the contrary. His timekeeping behind Miles is amazing for someone 17, not to mention most recordings up to this time period. Miles takes 4 choruses. Check out what Tony does just before going into the bridge of chorus 1. He perfectly compliments Miles' quarter-note, quarter-note, eight-note, eight-note, tied eight-note phrasing in classic call and response fashion. How about Tony's set up into the top of chorus 4? His snare chatter fits evenly between Miles' notes just before climaxing to a big downbeat at the top of the form. How can he play these idea's if he is not 100% tuned into what Miles is playing?

Another great example of Tony's listening and ability to mold what he is hearing is his interplay with Herbie Hancock. Their hookup at the end of Wayne Shorter's first chorus is priceless. It is completely subtle and appropriate. By the end of Shoter's 3rd and final chorus, Tony and Herbie sound more like one being operating 2 instruments simultaneously. Again, superb listening is at work.

In Michelle Mercer's, Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter, bassist Ron Carter describes Tony's playing with the Miles Davis Quintet when he says, "Tony could sound like Max Roach or Art Blakey or Philly Joe Jones in any given second. Freedom was when any one of these five people in the group could immediately identify that and jump to that page in their book. That's freedom for me, to have that kind of musical awareness, where the ego is not part of the music."

It is that kind of musical awareness that made Tony so successful at a remarkably young age. Forgive me if I have offended or misinterpreted you in anyway Mr. Cobham. That was not my intention. Instead, I have tried to make a concise and intelligent response aimed at forcing readers to investigate and interpret for themselves.