Over the weekend one of my favorite jazz-rock drummers Billy Cobham celebrated his 76th birthday. He first came into national prominence appearing in Miles Davis’ awesome fusion bands in 1970 (Get Up With It, Tribute to Jack Johnson) but really blew the roof off when he joined the Mahavishnu Orchestra. (maybe a future PPP!)
Soon after he left MO, he assembled amazing bands and released solo records. His first album, Spectrum, remains the high water mark and is one of my all-time favorite jazz-rock albums. However, during the course of my celebrating his recorded works this weekend I revisited Inner Conflicts for the first time in years and it blew my mind!!
The first track is a weird out-of-character space-rock odyssey with drums and crazy synths that he played / programmed solo. Worth the price of admission right there!
But the other tracks are burning fusion tracks featuring all-star lineups including Zappa band member Ruth Underwood, guitarist extraordinaire John Scofield (a previous PPP!) and pre-Prince Shelia E!!! Don’t sleep on this one. It’s a banger.