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INSANE: Billy cobham | Rare Historical Photos

“It’s fine to become a technical monster, but if you can’t come up with a good bassline it’s useless”: Lee Sklar shares his secrets for finding the perfect groove in the studio

Sklar has played on over 2,500 albums – not bad for someone who claims, “I never had any intention of becoming a studio player”

Guitar World

“I met Billy Cobham on a Campbell’s Soup jingle and doing an Avon jingle with Herbie Hancock. It was an amazing time”: A pre-fame Stanley Clarke took chance after chance at a 1974 session with Aretha Franklin – and helped define a soul classic

Clarke's early session career offered tantalizing glimpses of his technical prowess and innovations, and hints of how he would transform the low-end landscape with Return To Forever and his own solo albums

Guitar World

“I got a hacksaw and I chopped down the stand and put the hi-hats down there”: How the right-handed Simon Phillips learned to play left-handed as a young drummer – with inspiration from two fusion legends and some drastic DIY

"It was all disco in 1975 – pretty simple"

MusicRadar

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“His influence is referenced by many contemporary drummers and he has no doubt spawned his fair share of copyists”: 6 of the most inspirational drummers of all time

Welcome to MusicRadar’s Drums Week! To kick things off, we’re spotlighting some of the most consequential sticksmen of all time

MusicRadar

“I’m in cricket gear and a duffle coat, side parting, being all spiritual. And people wonder why I’ve been stylistically challenged ever since!” Level 42’s Mark King saw the Mahavishnu Orchestra on colour TV and a fashion crime followed

The future bandleader wasn’t even a bassist when John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer and co burst into his young life on the Isle of Wight

Louder

“A lot of dreams that came to fruition in the 70s were born in the 60s. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was just one. Shakti was another”: John McLaughlin doesn’t know why his music sold so well. In fact, he knows he knows nothing

The jazz rock pioneer on being fast and loud, walking away from success, and why a musician is actually exploring the meaning of life

Louder

"It shimmers, it shakes, it grooves, and most importantly, it rocks": Mahavishnu Orchestra navigate new musical worlds on The Inner Mounting Flame

Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame was the first jazz-rock album that found favour among significant numbers of rock aficionados

Louder

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“Miles runs into the studio with his horn and shouts ‘hit the record button,’ and we were recording. We wrapped that album up by midday”: Billy Cobham on Miles Davis’s agile approach to recording

Iconic drummer turns 80 later this month

MusicRadar

‘Jazz isn’t about perfection’: drummer Billy Cobham on Miles Davis, Massive Attack and still learning at 80

After a grounding with genre greats, he fused jazz with rock to outrageously funky effect. Ahead of UK dates, he explains why two prosthetic hips aren’t slowing him down

The Guardian - UK

“What you hear on Stratus is pretty much the first take. Tommy Bolin's guitar playing is some of the best that ever was”: Legendary sideman Lee Sklar reveals the studio secrets behind his incredible career

The legendary bassist looks back at five decades of studio work on hit songs by James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Phil Collins, and many more

Guitar World

“Musicians can get upset with each other, but you’re family. Chris Squire and I were like brothers – he was Darth Vader and I was Obi-Wan Kenobi!” Jon Anderson’s time-travelling solo album 1000 Hands

In 2019 he reincarnated 30-year-old demos with former Yes bandmates and a stellar supporting cast, offering positive and long-held opinions to a rapidly-changing world

Louder

“I turned up at George Martin’s office with a diabolically bad demo – but he could see there was something there”: How Jeff Beck’s Blow by Blow triumphed against the odds to change instrumental guitar forever

50 years on, Blow by Blow remains an inspirational force – a turning point for Beck and guitar-led music in general

Guitar World

“I had no illusions about losing popularity – in fact, I almost did it intentionally. A guy from the label said, ‘Are you crazy?’ I said, ‘Yes, but I assume the consequences’”: John McLaughlin’s career outside the lines

Surrounded by genre-breakers from an early age, the Mahivshnu Orchestra mastermind learned quickly about ignoring critics – but never stops reminding himself of his own incapabilities and ignorance

Louder

“I wish we’d had bidding wars – a mad time dining out with everyone falling in love with us. But no; we had one dude with a small label who believed in us”: Gavin Rossdale on the sacred and absurd experience of making Bush’s Sixteen Stone

30 years on, the band leader recalls how his partnership with former guitarist Nigel Pulsford was the catalyst that sent him into a world of melody, twin tape recorders –and taking a lesson from Massive Attack

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“Right before we started the set, Bill Evans called me on a pay phone. He said, ‘I’m bringing somebody to hear you.’ I said, ‘It’s not Miles, is it?’” How jazz guitar legend Mike Stern ended up joining Miles Davis’ band – and had a song named after him

Stern was playing with Billy Cobham one night in the early 1980s when Evans decided to bring along the legendary jazz trumpeter, who was in the market for a new guitar player

MusicRadar

Tama is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a star-studded live event in London this November

The line-up features Billy Cobham, Beanie, Jeremy Stacey and more

Louder

"Towards the end it was not pretty. I scraped myself off the walls of insanity. I was barking like a dog": the last days of Deep Purple

On July 19, 1976, Deep Purple officially split up. The ending was horrible, marked by addiction and jealousy

Louder

10 guitar heroes who should be much better known, by Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa's definitive guide to the guitar heroes who don't get the credit they deserve

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The Guardian - UK

Jazz star Yussef Dayes: ‘Other people had David Beckham as their hero – I had the drummer Billy Cobham’

The groundbreaking south London drummer is now on the brink of solo stardom. He reveals the highs and lows of his journey and why his new album is more than just a jazz record

Louder

Billy Cobham: “It was testing the waters of rock and jazz!"

Jazz fusion drummer extraordinaire Billy Cobham recalls his time with Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra and beyond...

Louder

Jon Anderson on 1000 Hands: "The only way forward is to get rid of corruption, greed and suffering"

Jon Anderson discusses the genesis of his 2019 solo album, 1000 Hands: Chapter One, which was nearly 30 years in the making

Guitar World

Joe Bonamassa names 10 guitarists who shaped his sound

The king of modern-day blues-rock on "the greatest rock guitar player that ever was", who he considers "the Frank Sinatra of the blues" and "Immaculate Conception as a guitar player" – and why he regularly apologizes to Eric Johnson

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