Billy Cobham - Stratus
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- 4th track (without intro) of his 1973 released solo debut "Spectrum" featuring Tommy Bolin on guitar and Jan Hammer on keys. Unlike rest of the tracks, the intro on "Stratus" was not separately named and has been edited from this take. So, if you feel you are left missing it and for some strange reason do not own the album already I would suggest to go and buy it for yourself immediately.
Billy Cobham - Spectrum (Atlantic Records 1973)
May 14--May 16, 1973 at Electric Lady Studios, New York City
Billy Cobham - Percussion
Tommy Bolin - Guitar
Jan Hammer - Electric piano, Acoustic piano, Moog synthesizer
Lee Sklar - Fender bass
Joe Farrell - Flute, Soprano sax & Alto sax
Jimmy Owens - Flugelhorn & Trumpet
John Tropea - Guitar
Ron Carter - Acoustic bass
Ray Barretto - Congas
"What is life but a Spectrum, and what is Music but life itself." William E. Cobham Jr.
So it is!
Tommy Bolin was magical...and no words for Billy Cobham
Don’t forget jan hammer!
And Lee Sklar on bass.😊 @@leksheychef6063
Ian Hammer
The drumming on this album broke new ground. This was 1973. Drummers had not heard anything like this before. Runs across the toms like that and the speed, power and uniqueness were amazing. The great Buddy Rich was the number one drummer in the Downbeat musicians poll for years. This album ended that.
You are exactly right! I was a young drummer at the time. And I appreciate that your comment grants Buddy his greatness. He really was great! But Billy was great in a very different, unique way. I would come home from a concert where Cobham played in a state of shock. I had never heard anything like him before!
SOLARIZATION, the opening track from the follow up album BILLY COBHAM • TOTAL ECLIPSE in 1974 blew the doors off. Note: don't listen to a scratchy album post of it listeners. Digital. He had a new double bass fiberglass drum set by MILESTONE to replace the legendary FIBES clear double bass set and he cut a timpani in half and called it a Gong Drum (later made by TAMA). Albums that take you on a voyage like a number of the fusion albums did then as opposed to a collection of shorter three minute songs are a favorite.
They did also have Bill Ward back then. Not trying to take anything away from this masterpiece.
@@Gargoyle3438 the fusion jazz of that period was amazing stuff.
yep like 032!! listen carefully
Bolin is 22-23 years old here. Couldn't read music, just picked up the general gist of the song and here it is....all created on the spot. What were any of us doing at 22 years old? Fucking genius.
100% true. My dad grew up with him in Sioux City
Spacing out at this masterpiece, overnight at a radio station or two (somewhere in America).
Not to be greedy, I was only too happy to share this creative fire ftom Olympus with those in the wee wee hours (bet it kept a few folks awake at the wheel, fo' sho')!
Well, the song is in pentatonic. Basic rock, so Bolin could go wild with no need for the knowledge of advanced jazz theory. Just saying.
@@dean4559 in my early 20's in the 70's, this was a transitional bridge from Rock of the 60's & 70''s which seemed to be losing it's creative and revolutionary appeal, to jazz, which can never let you you down in creativity. Joe Farrell is another bridge for me, from hard-driving rock to jazz. They appealed to my need for a hard drum rhythm to pause long enough to appreciate the creativity of the other instruments going on. Thus, I expanded my appreciation, which has lasted a lifetime.
Well, I wasn't doing heroin. That's for certain.
This is SO GREAT! Jeff Beck loved this album.
Beck and Tal blew it up too!!!
It inspired him to make Blow by Blow
And Miles Davis' "Jack Johnson"@@tomgross1953
Fantastic albums!
Let’s not forget Lee Sklar for that bass line alone.
YES, Lee killed it, going from James Taylor to Cobham is something else
Saw an interview with him a while back, he was explaining how grueling that was to continue that same finger pattern for so long. The guy was a monster.😊
I am just learning this bass line and its so fun❤️
The late great T. Bolin. He and Cobham made magic! This is perhaps the greatest jazz fusion album in history.
It has been for me since '73 ha ha.
Back when this came out, I was pleasantly surprised with Tommy Bolin. I wasn't surprised about his skills, just surprised that he did this with Cobham. This is a world away from Deep Purple. BTW, I'm a Cobham fan. not so much a Deep Purple fan. Now I'm from Philly and a childhood friend's uncles were Micheal and Randy Brecker. Loved Micheal's colab with Billy on "Heather"
Well, cobham is defenitely the Best drummer, i have heard live in my lifetime, No contest, alone his psycical presence left me in awe.
Blow by Blow.
You think that Jeff Beck album beats this one out, @@doovie101? I won’t argue that it does or doesn’t myself.
They have one player in common.
Tommy Bolin was the Star of this Album..His understanding of Jazz Fusion and Rock and Roll was just so impressive..Rest In Peace Tommy Bolin, your not forgotten..
Master groover...stole the show.
builtforspeed339 God Bless your words , dam true.
Builtforspeed hai ragione. Non lo dimentichiamo il Sig. Tommy Bolin.
Mr Cobham ...thinks your adorable.
His what?
Had the album in 73, freshman in college in Ohio... it became part of my DNA :-) still listening today!
This song was included on one of the in game radio stations on Grand Theft Auto IV (2008). It was on the fusion jazz radio station (Fusion FM) I was 16 years old and played this game a ton and always had this station on. It introduced me to such good jazz fusion music, and it’s since been one of my fav genres.
One of the best drum 'n bass grooves iv heard
One of the greatest recorded snare drums in history.
'spLOSive! bam! Even better than Bruford's "One of a Kind" snare.
I love the N&C that Chris Whitten uses on Paul Mcartneys Tripping the live fantastic.
I get that 👍
The slight reverb makes it pop in the right way.
U bet,kick also,right in the chest,for snare I love Yes,,big gen And 90215 for great snare rec
I bought this album when it first came out... the store in Northern England had "listening booths"... "Stratus" came on, I was absolutely blown away and had to pick myself up off the floor, Billy Cobham's drums, Tommy Bolin on guitar and Jan Hammer on keyboards were
just WILD but also melodic, I loved it... I have the album today and recorded it to my Laptop and of course it is available on You Tube...
I can never get over this awesome album... nowadays I play it and listen... amazing... WOW...what more can I say???
Malcolm in Toronto Nov 2021
You’re not mentioning the disgusting bassline that lives the entire song. Huge reason it’s such a groove
Don't forget the majesty of the bass on the record mostly by Lee Sklar who did this ICONIC bass line
I bought this album 1973 in Austria/Europe - masterpice of Jazz Rock 💗
one of the greatest drummers of all time!
I've just discovered this for the first time in 2020. Fantastic. The rhythm section just smashing it.
Yes.
Lee Sklar has his own channel on UA-cam and plays along to his original lay down bass track , it’s worth checking it out.
Cobham is rock solid. The entire band was ahead of their time. And, it's so sad we lost Bolin way too early.
You are still catching up like I am Jeremy..
sampled by Massive attack
BILLY. COBHAM. IS ONE THE BEST DRUMMER EVER TO WALK THE EARTH
Loooove Leland Sklar's bass line on this. It is perfect and really stands out on this classic jazz/rock masterpiece.
Especially, in the true sense, you have a fusion of two jazz base musicians, Billy and Jan, playing with two great Rock based players.
It seems like a simple bass part, but finding a bass player who can hold it down rock solid isn't that easy. I've heard too many start to drift.
@@8sigreg Definitely a challenge. I've been playing for over 40 years and I just tried it for the first time a week or so ago. It's just three notes but man, keeping them in order and clean isn't easy.
@@hubbsllc
agreed. Forearm destroyer too. LOL
@@8sigreg exactly. I’m a bass player and often listen to Leland’s playing against the snare…he’s just dead on, all the time.
When i was 12, today 62.....he is still the master....
One of the best jazz/rock track ever made, fantastic bass line!
Not one! This piece is The Masterpiece. The Cornerstone. THE FUSIONPIECE! The Basic and the HighEnd at the same time..............................
Check out Jeff Beck, Jan, and Vinnie Colaiuta's live version. Vinnie is obviously a great drummer, but he swings for the fences a couple times where Billy would keep it more inside. Still, it's worth a listen; the groove is true to the original.
kneelandpray2
It’s late 2019 and I just discovered that Leland Sklar was the bass player on this legendary original. I keep saying to myself, “self, stop being surprised at where you find Mr. Sklar, he has played for almost everyone, on almost every album worth talking about, almost since magnetic recording tape was invented.”
I have a dvd of Toto live in Paris 2007.
What an amazing concert. Greg Philinganes, Lee Sklar, Simon Phillips !!
I read later (I hope this isn’t a bogus story)
that just before that tour, their bassist had an accident so they called Mr. Sklar and asked him to stand in for the tour. He learned the whole show in 2 weeks but watching him doesn’t provide a clue.
In several little spots during the show he slips in licks from other iconic artists.
I caught a whisper of Weather Report
Heavy Weather. It’s hilarious. He’s played with EVERYONE.
The bassline was famously sampled by Massive Attack on their track Safe From Harm.
The bassline comes from some higher power.Not of this Earth.😎
Some of the greatest jazz fusion musicians of all time performed on this album. One of my favorites. Cobham is second to none in his field. And Jan Hammer,. Well.... Not to mention one of Tommy Bolin's greats.
Let's not forget Lenny,Narada and Bruford!!!
@@blairmathis3349100%
The bass line... Safe from Harm two decades later
Yeah this is where they sampled it from.
One of the best things ever by anyone anywhere
Absolutely!
Without a doubt.Was living in South Carolina at the time.Heard this on a savannah Georgia radio station and bought the album immediately.
Stargazer by RAINBOW seems more a proper candidate here. Its mot I cant appreciate stuff like this but at the same I feel awkward, it sounds so much 70 s drugs inspired.
Truly one great really great drummers of all times. Sometimes underappreciated but a phenomenal talent
timeless.....kids these days just don't know what they don't know....we grew up in such a rich musical era...60's, 70's 80's ...90's......
Billy Cobham's "Spectrum".. best Record ever ! 👍👍👍👍👍
While growing up in Switzerland in the early 70's, I would listened every night to radio Luxembourg until 3 am when they went off air closing with this fusion masterpiece.
minocher vania ☆☆☆wow!!! Lucky you......you got to grow up in Switzerland and you were listening to this gem? Veeeery nice. Peace and love.🎶🎶🎶
Did the Swiss jam it?
@@bowelmusicreleases_DAMF only in Montreux.
@@minochervania2179 Thats correct, 1970 did not had jazz scene even today there are not many Blues&Jazz bars/clubs where you can listen live musik without buying a ticket. We are missing bars where live music is played even today 40 years later...
The whole band created something fantastic. When you get musicians who hit off of each other like that something special is created. The right place at the right time and that's what you get a little bit of pure magic. 😊
Never gets old. This is a real Super BAND
Just amazing, still does the business 50 years later!
One of the top tracks in Musik history....
Ear candy 👌
Woow, Lee Sklar on the electric bass, too! What a super-team! 😮
The Ballistic Outro Drum Solo of the gods.. BILLY G.O.A.T.
🤣
That drumming is godly.
Tommy Bolin, the sound of the eternity
IMMORTALE!!!
I truly believe music can hardly goes any better from here
LONG LIVES BILLY BOLIN!!
This track is one of the best jazz-rock compositions from my side. Extremely combinations of drums and bass.....For me it is a morning opening for a hard day. Gives me enormous energy.
The base that makes this bass is fabulous! Everything is based on that solid foundation.
I believe they cut the Album in three or four days Billy Cobham-Tommy Bolin, Lee Skylar, Jan Hammer Best session Musicians and players available at the time- What an album!
THAT snare drum ... 🏆⭐💚🌈 wow 😬
Cobham`s independence was showcased on this record. Just a unique way to split your brain under pressure. Haven`t heard anyone since have a go at this type of playing. Guys like Buddy Rich and Steve Gadd, as great as they are do not have the both sides of the body ability Cobham has. A total one off. Thanks Billy, and thank you RasputinStream for the upload.
I was very high at the time, but I remember seeing Mahavishnu John McLaughlin with Billy Cobham drumming live around 1975 at the Orpheum in Boston. At the same venue I saw the Grateful dead twice and Bob Weir and Kingfish once plus The Band and Bob Dylan and the dead. saw Freddie Hubbard and George Benson at a small Boston club. Just dredging up the old fantastic memories. Boston was a rad place to see music in the 70's.Boston tea Party had J Geils as the house band, lots of free concerts, folk clubs, rock festivals and then out to Tanglewood where I saw The Who, Santana, The band again and Jethro Tull. It was such a rich concert environment that you'd shrug off seeing The Stones or miss The Allman Brothers because you were going out to too many concerts. saw Elton John's premiere performance in the US. Rod Stewart and Small faces.
William Nelson yeah I saw Mahavishnu Orchestra at Reading Fest the same year, minus Jan Hammer but still an amazing gig, I did copious amounts of acid to this record when I first got it, sort of seared it into my soul to an extreme earworm thing 😂
Lee Sklar got me hooked on this, brilliant track, excellent musicianship across the board, thanks Lee 🖕
Billy for ever. ❤️
Love it Billy & Tommy SMoke this song
We played the heck out of this album in the 1970s in a house where I lived with a group of jazz musicians. Thanks for posting!
A Jazz-Rock Anthem and a superb drum solo performance,by one of the greatest drummers ever !!
I first heard this when I was senior in high school in 1973 on WHFS in Bethesda, Maryland. I was blown away then and I am still amazed at how great this album is. Thank you Billy Cobham!
Lee's mesmerizing bass line holds it all togther
Bass line 👌👌
one of the best songs i ve ever heard
Indeed it is and always will be.
Kick ass big dog, you know what's up, mister master MAN, you can't touch this, 1 of a kind, don't you say people that like jazz. Thank you Cobham.🎧🎶🎶🎶🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹
The muting and articulation of his guitar notes ... simply awesome!
I love Beastie Boys and Massive Attack, and heard this track for the first time today. This song spawned TWO of my favorite songs! Love it!
OHH what's the Beastie Boys one?!
There isn’t. Just the Massive cut.
You can tell this album has a lot of influence on the Beastie Boys album The In Sound from Way Out.
the drums and bass groove,just awesome,lovely interplay between Bolin and Hammer also.
Yeeeeeeees
When i was 19 back in '79, I was first introduced to Jazz/Rock Fusion and my mind was simply blown away. I'd never heard musicianship like this in my life...the first 3 albums were Return To Forever's "Romantic Warrior", Al Di Meola's "Land Of The Midnight Sun", and Billy Cobham's "Spectrum". What a way to begin a life long fascination with the genre. Thank you to Brian Jones of London, Ontario.
Corea Kixx
HOLEECRAP that’s almost exactly my story !! I was a high school senior in 77 and I lost my fusion cherry to RTF Romantic Warrior, Dimeola’s “Elegant Gypsy” (overall lifetime favorite album I think because I cannot get bored with one second of it), Stanley Clark “School days”,
And an dizzying overdose of
Jean-luc Ponty. A friend’s older brother had 3 or 4 Ponty albums. That violin twisted this 18 year old brain.
The very coolest thing happened.
My Dad...WWII veteran, drummer, music degree, former marching band director,
fell hard for this new weird music I was bringing home. He and I lived together for awhile after the divorce and when I came home one day he didn’t hear me come in
Because he had Gino Vanelli’s “Brother to brother”.... CRANKED UP on my hot rod Sansui stereo. Jazz-fusion was a very cool father-son connection.
I still have my copy of this LP and this song contains my favorite Jan Hammer solo of alllll time! oh - and Billy's pocket groove on here is friggin perfect! One of the top progressive jazz fusion LPs EVER!
I love this album
It doesn't get any better than this! I swear it doesn't. I swear to GOD it don't!
Billy and Tommy-- doesn`t get much better.
Tommy and Alphonse Mouzon were great too. Check out GOLDEN RAINBOWS
Masterpiece!
Love it when kids rave about the groove from Safe From Harm,my mum bought me this record in the mid 70s as drumming inspiration.
Pure Bolin BLISS at 2:09-magical spine tingling 16-bar riff I listen to monthly. I saw Billy at Middlebury College in 1973 and years later in LA at the Conga Room. Coolest friendliest guy ever. Reminisced with me about that ‘73 college gig when he was with Mahavishnu and even remembered that Leo Kottke opened for them.
What? No replies 😕
I just learned something about that flawless spine tingling 16-bar riff...it’s a sound effect known as “ecoplex” which takes a sequence and repeats like a digital echo...I still love it. Don’t matter to me if you use technology to create sonic bliss...
Thanks for the time mark..good God so awesome
@@richardparrot9202 been around...but yes what a great example..just is so awesome
Damn I love this everyone of these players are first class true musicians and thats DESPERATELY needed today love it wish I had heard it WAY sooner I'm a fan nice work
This outstanding piece of music, which has certainly written music history, is definitely a total work of art, especially with this cast of musicians!
One of my greatest strengths rifs ever, heard it in 1976 at a club in Germany. Best ever album
Fusion FM got me here. Awesome musicianship!
Smooth as ever
SOooooooooo awesome
my neighbors listen to this whether they like it or not, rest in peace tommy bolin
joke's been made a million times. take your life.
@@tightirl Agreed.
No joke foo
i wanna be your neighbor
Anthony Corrreia also yells FREEBIRD!!! at every show he attends.
This masterpiece oozes pure energy of many dimensions! Love listening to this!!
Masterpiece.
One of the best albums ever
Невероятно изпълнение!!! Слушал съм го още в 70' по щастливо стечение на обстоятелствата. Въпреки, че не съм музикант, все си мисля, че трябва да се изучава в музикалните училища...
This is such a cool groove,
I could listen to it all day!
The groove is hypnotical
I was lucky enough to see him in a brick cellar that year in Houston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Legendary! With Tommy Bolin and Stanley Clarke.
No freaking way!!! I live in Houston. What club was it?
A favourite since the 1970s...music is the best.
An infectious, classic, and rock-steady funky grooves ever, and the musicianship is amazing!!!
Wore the grooves down with this album the summer of 1973!!!
But.. Weren't you shot down during WW1, 1917?
+Werner Voss Sick.. And now you're back, resurrected by the groove
I've got 3 copies just KUZZZ!
My friend gave me the album back in 76. I got rid of all my albums in 1998. Bought Spectrum last year-just to have. I need the CD.
thats awesome
Heard this on the syndicated Blues Deluxe radio show a few months ago. Great selection!
Never heard a better version of Stratus than this. It really touches me and as I can read a lot of other listeners.
I once had a chance to talk to Billy Cobham after his concert and told him how much I like his first solo album and thanked him for this record. He answered, you don't have to thank me, it was the sound engineer who made it sound so good. Of course, Billy. He and you, Leland, Jan and Tommy and everyone esle on the record. It's one of the best and most outstanding records out of the 70s fusion music before fusion took another direction becoming more 'polished' and lost its roughness, which I like.
are you jewish?
Heard this while riding back home with my dad. Instantly loved it!
One of my favorite albums as a teenager in the 1970s. Thus I could not abide the pop music of the time. Saw him live at the Roxy in LA at the time. Great show.
This is top quality jazz / rock.
Amazing china cymbal sound!
One of my favorite albums when i was a teen❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😊
How strong does Lee sklars fingers have to be to play the same lick for this long. Also, Jan hammer is so underated it's criminal.
Unknown maybe to today's youth...- but NEVER UNDERRATED!!!
What a surprise, just discovered . Majestic !!!!
Totally awesome drum and cymbal sounds used in a totally new way akin to the way Jimi Hendrix played the Stratocaster! My hero! Super single-stroke, totally tasty dynamic groove and orchestration! Often imitated but never duplicated, BILLY COBHAM, the musician's musician- left-handed hands and right-handed feet; no one else comes close
i have seen him in concert, how old am i. i miss those days.
Massive tuuuuuuuune! Played it at many parties in the 90's, it was a serious floorfiller. Still is.
... and Massive Attack thought the same ;-)
Beautifully sampled in later years by Massive Attack
I learned Billy Cobham's name (and that 9f Jan Hammer) as a young adult. However, it was the one and only Leland Sklar whose UA-cam uploads of 2020 ultimately brought me around to this particular composition.
One of the great ones
Maravilloso solo lead guitar,feeling, técnica y el sound Magic de la Fender Stratocaster,grande Tommy Bolin.
I was just never the same after hearing this the 1$t time 💯yrs ago.
I do believe that I have a copy of this LP! I thought this was one of the finest LP's ever recorded. This is the record that helped to change drumming for ever!!! The bass track is so incredible!
My favorite drummer! Top 5 guitarist!
IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN BILLY'S DRUMMING
Amen! The groove on this track should be taught in all drum classes...
Check out tony williams lifetime believe it lp.youll dig it...
@@michaelmarino3013 The track FRED by Tony Williams is amazing. Sadly gone but his drumming was outstanding !
Lee Sklar shows how to lay down a groove.
Man I love dat bass!!!
And listen how even his notes are. Very consistent.
Check out his UA-cam channel. He jammed along with this the other day using the actual bass he played on the record.
@@a-funk1253 Yeah, I wonder how many people are able to appreciate the difficulty of playing a simple line over and over while remaining tight and consistent. A hallmark of a great bass player.
Damn straight.