Voice of America
26 May 2020, 05:35 GMT+10
Jimmy Cobb, a percussionist and the last surviving member of Miles Davis' 1959 Kind of Blue groundbreaking jazz album that transformed the genre and sparked several careers, died Sunday.
His wife, Eleana Tee Cobb, announced on Facebook that her husband died at his New York City home from lung cancer. He was 91.
Born in Washington, D.C., Cobb told The Associated Press in 2019 he listened to jazz albums and stayed up late to hear disc jockey Symphony Sid play jazz in New York City before launching his professional career. He said it was saxophonist Cannonball Adderley who recommended him to Davis, and he ended up playing on several Davis recordings.
Cobb's role as a drummer on the Kind of Blue jam session headed by Davis would forever change his career. That album also featured Adderley and John Coltrane.
Kind of Blue, released on Aug. 17, 1959, captured a moment when jazz was transforming from bebop to something newer, cooler and less structured.
The full takes of the songs were recorded only once, with one exception, Cobb said. Freddie Freeloader needed to be played twice because Davis didn't like a chord change on the first attempt, he said.
Davis, who died in 1991, had some notes jotted down, but there weren't pages of sheet music. It was up to the improvisers to fill the pages. "He'd say, 'this is a ballad. I want it to sound like it's floating.' And I'd say, 'OK,' and that's what it was," Cobb recalled.
The album received plenty of acclaim at the time, yet the critics, the band and the studio couldn't have known it would enjoy such longevity. Cobb and his bandmates knew the album would be a hit but didn't realize at the time how iconic it would become.
"We knew it was pretty damned good," Cobb joked.
Kind of Blue has sold more than 4 million copies and remains the best-selling jazz album of all time. It also served as a protest album for African American men who looked to Davis and the other jazz musicians to break stereotypes about jazz and black humanity.
Cobb would also work with such artists as Dinah Washington, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Wynton Kelly and Stan Getz. He'd also release a number of albums on his own.
He performed well into his late 80s and played in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2017, as part of the New Mexico Jazz Festival. Jazz fans from throughout the American Southwest came to pay their respects in what many felt was a goodbye.
Cobb released his last album, This I Dig of You, with Smoke Sessions Records in August 2019.
Get a daily dose of Illinois Intelligencer news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Illinois Intelligencer.
More InformationOTTAWA, Canada: With Canada Post struggling to maintain operations amid labour unrest, rivals like FedEx and UPS are stepping in to...
Dhaka [Bangladesh], July 12 (ANI): The three-day second-round tariff talks between Bangladesh and the United States have ended without...
Washington, DC [US], July 12 (ANI): The Beatles legend Paul McCartney is hitting the road again. The singer-songwriter has announced...
New Delhi [India], July 12 (ANI): A preliminary investigation into the Air India flight AI171 crash has revealed that just seconds...
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 12 (ANI): Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has said that the spirit of Telangana is similar...
The Pentagon abruptly suspended the shipments in early July, citing a need to audit remaining stockpiles Ukrainian President Vladimir...
ATLANTA, Georgia: The United States is facing its worst measles outbreak in more than three decades, with 1,288 confirmed cases so...
In the past month alone, 23 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza—three more than the number of remaining living hostages held...
LONDON, U.K.: At least 13 people are believed to have taken their own lives as a result of the U.K.'s Post Office scandal, in which...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Travelers at U.S. airports will no longer need to remove their shoes during security screenings, Department of Homeland...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: An elaborate impersonation scheme involving artificial intelligence targeted senior U.S. and foreign officials in...
SLUBICE, Poland: Poland reinstated border controls with Germany and Lithuania on July 7, following Germany's earlier reintroduction...