Conversations with Jimmy Cobb

welcome to the NYU jazz interview series from the Steinhardt school at NYU thank you very much and today I am so excited so proud to have one of the great living jazz legends of our time right how about how about a warm round of applause for mr. Jimmy Cobb you see we've done this one once before we did yeah about ten years ago okay remember the sandwiches I remember the sandwiches we had local sandwich shop we'll save that for our next interview already on the Food Channel hey you know what I made sure to read through all your bio all the things that were written about you in something interesting that I want to talk about that most drummers today it's it's not common they most drummers that on the scene have gone to school taking lessons gone to conservatory and according to your bio you were self-taught so was that common in what was the first time you picked up drum sticks well it was common because yeah I was born was like in a depression you know I'm like nobody had money guys is jumping off of buildings and all that stuff to law and when I just come up it was like in a bad time you know and it was in a time when they really didn't have jazz schools at all you know so like if you were fortunate enough to go to let's say uh what's the best school you got here and myau know wow what is it I can't think of it can you think of the best the first school Julia of Juilliard there they didn't have enough money to go to Julliard you know even if you did if you got there they wouldn't like to play jazz anyway so if they are caught to fernandes they put you out of the school what miles went to Julliard did you ever talk about that that's much later you know but I think he went there just as uh that had gotten over with you know because uh his dad had enough money to send him because of that it was a pretty pretty pretty bitching and on in st. Louis so I he sent him there to uh you know because he wanted to go visit he had been infected by the Billy Eckstine man had come to town you know and he went to see him and for some reason they didn't have a it was missing one of their trumpet players so uh they asked him if he could play if he had a card or something like that so he he said yes I think they put him in there like the fourth trumpet section but you didn't know about to play looking but maybe a note every now and then or something you know like cuz he wasn't really a good player by then so he got he got infected with that man so he wanted to come to New York so he got his daddy to sent him to New York and he went to Julliard you know so like in day time he was Juilliard the night time he was 62nd Street you know at that time 52nd Street at about twelve clubs right down maybe from Lex which it was sixth Avenue seventh Avenue and now they had about twelve different clubs that you could walk down and see everybody that you wanted to see you know that was prominent in the Jazz business at that time so he said hang out there you're saying I would uh with dizzy and in bird you know so let go from from doing that over time dizzy and Berbers together but buried hand out I mean dizzy had in a car to go to California to have his own BAM so he had equipment and leave bird that said it was in front of them the the places they were working in the papayas the project was talking the bird you say well now that this is gonna leave who's gonna happen to been you know so so he miles was standing there you know so he said uh miles say you didn't even look at him he just said so miles got in the band because dizzy left and you know he wasn't really that at that time he wasn't really that great a player you know was probably a lot of guys uh better better at playing the trumpet in them you know but he was just then there so uh he's at the right place at the right time well regarding that period when was the first time that you were aware of that scene on 52nd Street and when did you get there well I don't know I was probably uh I'm probably around maybe 2021 by then but I don't I don't know I don't think I was old enough to go in the club so uh I maybe I was 20 you know something like that's I used to come up and on visit my aunt who lived here at the time you know I used to go down and and check it out just you know walk down the street the ED speakers outside would you be here a little bit of the music out on the street you know all the places are very tiny places like little bars like I'm trying it makes like you know what smalls is like that kind of that that kind of size you know like it was well they were all brownstone homes at one point yeah turned into restaurants little places that they made bars are then put news again you know so I used to go in and hear different bands down there when I would come up from my Washington but uh do you remember who you heard do you remember who you heard oh man it was everybody was it was good look you can see Coleman Hawkins you could see let's say young you can see it would be anybody you know anybody you can think of was in that music at that time would probably be there at one time or the other you know so I can't remember the exact names of it I saw a picture once of a 50 seconds feeling I'd like to get that because it's so it's a wonderful thing to have I can't even remember the name of the club so all the clubs now but do you remember getting to meet any of those people are getting to play with any of those guys oh no not then I didn't I had a opportunity to play with anybody there or or later on from those guys oh yeah later on I played with uh very but a few guys before I left for Washington I had opportunity when I was by the 18 years old to play without with a lady date she came down and was working in one of the high-end places downtown Washington and the reason I got to do that is I was in cahoots with a with a piano her piano player who had a who had was going to Howard University at the time and we got a quartet together you know so when she came to town he used the trio bug to uh to play with her and so that was a girl for me so what do you remember about Billie Holiday well I remember she was uh she was in some trouble you know you know so I think they probably taken a cabaret card at the time they had cabaret cars to work on these clubs I think they had taken that from her and she had to work outside of a New York City you know so she was there and I remember she was very nice to me you know she just to see uh we also be in the desert and used to say she just said to me said uh Youngblood would you help me zip up my car corset so when I thought that was strange but uh yeah but why was her corset off that's the question no mom she was getting dressed to go on the performance you know and I think it was one of the ones that your button in the back okay I just need to clarify this because this is an educational show you're funny things that do remember that was it was great to be you know would it she's a nice lady and she treated me good so I didn't I didn't have a problem now you also work with Dinah Washington yeah well that's a different story when I first went on the road with robotics man a friend of mine his name was Keita Betts who was from upstate New York there porkchester and we got to be friends and he was working with a robust expand so they used to come to Washington occasionally to work in the place was right on the corner from our variety theater and the lady had sense enough to open up a place upstairs so you know when the true time was over the guys would come out and want to jam someplace you know so she made it available for him you know so he should come down and do that she said I like a Creole or something you know and didn't have guys just come in and play so he was a part of that tool for us I got to meet him so the next time he came back to town it was like with robust expand so he asked me says he saw drummers about to quit uh you want to go on the road you know I said yeah you know so I went on the road we're all bus ticket no I met him at under in 25th Street and st. Nicholas Avenue and we was we went on the road you know but at that time it was the attraction was a Dinah Washington and they're all busted man so at that time Dyna was only traveling with a piano player so when when she played our rhythm section Teeter and myself would have to play with her and their piano player and at that time her piano play was Wynton Kelly you know so like we had a good trio right away you know so uh so was that your first touring gig I know I read that Earl Bostick was the first group that you recorded with yeah but was that the first time you went on the road oh yeah so my question now I just hold on what were you doing but you know we we know about famous jazz musicians you know your famous jazz musician but at one point you were unknown in unexperienced at what point did you have you know you had enough skills to join Earl Bostick this was your first gig what was going on right before that oh well I had a lot of good fortune in Washington to I had that's when I started to play was a few guys from Washington that was pretty prominent outside you know like there was a baritone player named Leo Parker who was probably under the first jazz baritone play was in Billy Eckstine his band so he was from there so occasionally I had a opportunity to play with him then there was Charlie rouse who was from there and I had opportunity to play with him in fact I think that was clouded that did the most for me because we had a band he had a friend that owned a restaurant on the Main Street and he had to put this upstairs it was was uh was vacant he wanted some activity you know so he hit me rust had gone to school together so he told us they wanted to bring a band up there so I'm gonna get this room going so he said ok so he brought a band and the band was we had a quintet the band was like some people I got got name but but you would nor many way but they were great and raza just came off the road with Dizzy Gillespie's band so uh we got up there and we had the thing the guy said you can play anything you want you know and it was one of those jobs last six months you know or whatever you know side opportunities to be there and learn all the bebop tunes from routes because he had been you know on the scene and learned learned all the tunes from the guys so I think that was my biggest boost to be able them you know to beat it at that time and and learn how I absorb all of that you know did you ever meet Charlie Parker talk to him yeah opportunity to play with him oh yeah later you know we had a thing where that used to be this job to hear Symphony said used to play all the guys records you know so occasionally used to get some of the guys that we were playing their records to go out on the road and he called him the sympathy sit all-stars so this particular time I was still with uh with Deinonychus Takeda and myself was still with Dinah and though we were was working in a in the theater in Philadelphia and Symphony was on the program you know so he his his front line was Charlie Parker Miles Davis Mill Jackson and teach Tillman who just come from Belgium and he was still planning to get tired wasn't playing harmonica yet or if he was he wasn't playing at them you know so that was that was their group so when we went on we played like maybe two three times a day this you're a short movie you know then the - man would come on so at that time our piano player his name was barreled Booker she was a she was from Philadelphia not she was a great great player so that was our rhythm section with them you know so like I had a whole week to play play with Charlie Parker and mouse and middle Jackson and it's well I guess what you're saying is you know you play a set and then there'd be a movie and then you play they're setting there'd be a movie yeah all day long yeah every day yeah so there's your schooling right there right we did about you didn't go to school but that was your school yeah that was part of my schooling yeah did I remember cuz uh at that time to deihi this' about 14 years old he used to come by now check us out and so he's my witness and what can you tell us about your personal interactions with with at that time with with parker and miles and inputs I don't know well I wasn't hanging out with them because uh I think at that time I was probably dealing with Dinah Washington you know where we had gotten together you know I let go buddies we're supposed to be married or something like that so I wasn't hanging out too tough with them guys is that right I didn't I didn't know that well I didn't know that either I bet you did that for a mother's satisfaction you know because uh kids go to Chicago and live in a mother's house so uh my mother was a very religious lady and I don't think she would want nothing like that going on the house you know she put out in there and you know in the media that um we was married and all that stuff so I think that satisfied a mother okay hey we're learning we're breaking new ground today and yeah yeah yeah you should tell everybody that's okay it won't go past so I want to go back to Burrell Bostick because in what in what I've read about your reminiscence of him he was playing notes that weren't on the horn or double notes yeah then claim was very beneficial to John Coltrane yeah well see when I was with him he was playing like a certain way because you had to play a certain way at that time to get a gig so he was playing like what he thought people liked you know to like that and at that time it wasn't like a really really jazz thing that he got into later when he got in later he had a whole lot of guys go through that band he had yeah train had been a Golson and you know guys like that yeah at this after I left or you know but the UH because when I was there we only had like a gene gene was a trumpet player gene red dink Clarence read was the trumpet player it was him by sick gene played trumpet n vibes so it was like we only had like maybe uh quintet then so uh after but I think he got a tenor lieutenant there you know so I kind of came to think of his name but I could see him but I can't think of his name but uh it was like that for a while you know and then I made that the first record wouldn't with Errol it was called from mango or something like that and I think he had like a little light hit you know at the time about that I don't think it made a lot of money but it made some probably made some money for him well let me ask you because you're on so many starting to play on a lot of different records and playing with many different people that seem to be within the same collection of groups like cannonball like Coltrane Paul Chambers Myles was there Wayne Shorter was there a group of like-minded musicians that were trying to break new ground or or it was just that that was the group of musicians that were in New York at the time no but I think that's basically was probably the trend at what the music was good was going was doing anyway you know like they couldn't have after the big band thing got over there he couldn't have too many big bands so everything had to be small dinner letter but so if you worked in the club you could get paid you know because uh you couldn't go too much over court that six hour sex that you know because you didn't get paid so that's what that's what the trend was at that time so uh but you landed the gig getting to know Myles and Parker and touched him ins for instance through Dinah Washington yeah that's where I got to meet uh most people you know like like Count Basie you know all the big bands and stuff that we had had occasion to play with and Woody Herman you know they're kind of suffers because occasionally we would hook up with them you know like she'd had some big band charts at their dad used to play so you were you were subbing or playing with Basie and Woody Herman or know our rhythm section would probably play our regions with that BAM you know so that at that point how did you connect with with who actually brought you into the Miles Davis group was it through miles or was it through cannonball or no actually it was from cannibal who who I had met when I was with with the Dinah Washington I met him in Florida he was a middle school band man teacher you know that's when you first met him when he was teaching me things met him he was standing outside of a hotel when we was checking in them in Miami UNAM and you know yes he heard probably heard I was coming he knew something about me so uh he wanted to know actually it was inquisitive about what was going on in New York and he wanted to know somebody that lived in New York so he could talk to him about it you know cuz I think he figured he wanted he would want to come there later you know so I guess I got to meet him you know we went to the room and we wrapped it for he asked me about everybody about uh just everybody you know what what was going on in the clubs and you know it's not but he didn't really know anybody yet cuz he was just no he wasn't really familiar with with the New York crowd yet cuz he was he was down in Florida always wondering how he got to play that good down in Florida but uh he ever tell you no that's not come to find out later they had a lot of good musicians down there you know a lot of people thought the right stuff they had a lot of Records and stuff that and he came up all listening to Benny Carter you know so like he had a good a good grip on it then you know from so were you around New York when he came and sat in at the cafe Bohemia made a big splash yeah I was around in fact I used to go down there Caslon and uh and see miles when Mauser beat in cafe Bohemia so uh when him and that came and sat in with uh Oscar Pettiford yeah Oscar Pettiford and I super deferred hired him right away because he's such a great player so then after that he came he came in New York no he got he organized a band after after fashion he organized the band and he brought all this his homeboys I'm from Florida you know to audition for John levy you wanted an agent you know so somebody probably prompted John leave it to him he went to John levy and Jon Olivas listen to the band and say yeah well the band sounds good but uh I think the drummer's a little weak to improbably had to get another drummer you know so all this guy's friends are here in Florida you know so how did the guys that he brought from Florida he had been in the Army with Junior Mints so he brought Junior Mints and it's about Sam Jones Sam Jones lived there I'm you know so like he bought Sam Jones jr. man and you brought this drummer I never knew his name I think they called him Saint Mary or something like it was very strange name that's all I ever knew but by them and and its brother than that you know so like they got a band and I was with it so he hired me with the band because uh you know we hadn't met and we played some together some so he got me in the band and I uh I was in the band made maybe until they got rid of no first drummer yet I think was specs right from Philadelphia he was a good good good drummer from Philly I think he probably taught through the east so that's that's a basic I met him I got in the band be made on made a record called but it was it I can I had it in my head said I got ready to say it sharpshooters I think they called it looks something like that so uh investigated swing hmm was it sophisticated swing that's the first one I have here as you're and I think about sharpshooters the one I made okay and dad went over pretty good no but uh we did that as long as he could then he had to break up the band because uh him and his brother wasn't paying the IRS and they uh they say well you will give us our money so they had to split up and you know but you'd get some weight right away to pay that are as they couldn't have the band them on so it was living his with his brother you know Long Island and he got the gig with Miles so he's uh at that time Mouse was had Philly Joe red garland Paul Coltrane and a man wasn't made the sex ed you know so at that time he was telling me that Joe occasionally wouldn't be on time or you wouldn't make the gig at all you know so he said I want you to come and you say I need this gigs I want you to come and and sit in so I mean just sit with us in case Jill don't throw up you can play you know so I said okay so I did that a few nights cuz I didn't know anything to do and I'm and I went and sat in with them and at that time I was learning all music just by sitting there you know all night listening to him and so we're later Joe didn't show up you know and we was at a record date and the record date was Porgy and Bess and Joe we were sitting there at the studio with about twenty five musicians waiting for Joe to show up you know so Joe didn't show up so he came to me and Gil said well okay you got it so I finished the record Joe had done half of it he did like the drum solo like gone gone gone and I had to finish the record so on that album it'll probably be like Joe on half of it in me on half of it you know so uh that's uh I'm trying to figure whether it was much after that that he that miles called me had at home one night about six o'clock in the evening and says um Joe is not gonna be in the band anymore so how much he's coming to ban I say okay cuz I so uh without discussing money anything I said but were you working next he said well actually I'm working tonight I said oh yeah well so he said in Boston I say bus and I'm in New York and he's probably already in Boston talking to me you know so I said Boston I said what time here he said nine o'clock and there's six o'clock see what he said I said man how am I gonna get there to Boston by nine o'clock you say you are to get don't yes so and so at that time they had like a shuttle going from New York to Boston in 55 minutes you know so like or you could just get on the plane I think you pay like he was on a bus but something no did it cost about $12 or something and so I left myself to get the drums together got my suitcase together took a cab to the airport and got on a plane got up in Boston took a cab from the airport to a George Wiens storyville Club where they were working and when I got there got inside they were playing on the bandstand playing already round about midnight you know so I set up the drums really quick while they were playing you know and uh and this says they got the department you know if anybody knows this record there's a process so I played that with him and then I was in the band so you know with no no rehearsals nothing like that I'd never had a rehearsal with them because you know I said then learn the music anyway so that's how that happened well I want to talk about a couple records 1959 was really a pinnacle for jazz the jazz scene and jazz recordings so it was kind of blue it was Giant Steps Charles Mingus Ornette Coleman the shape of jazz to come and Dave Brubeck time out they're all really different records yeah the music was changing you know and some so I guess miles came in with some kind of I think he really got got that feeling from from bill and Gil you know - so he had this thing where he just wanted to not play structures anymore not show tunes when they're that he wanted to try to do something different so he went into the melodic and you know where you played you would play maybe two or three chords and scales you know so that's exactly what happened he came in the in the studio with a little piece of paper and showed the guys what he wanted to do told him what he wanted to do and that was the basic of it there was no music you know nothing just uh he would say well on this tune I want you to play these three changes and we call that the outside and then I want to play these three changes and we call that the middle you play those are in play all up as long as you want then when you changed back to these other course I know that you know you're going back to there they take it out so that's what happened they played like all those blue and green and that that stuff like that you know but actually while I was being done after got done they put it on them put the labels on the records there it was the things was different was exactly backwards blue and green was the other one then the other ones blue and green you know it didn't make no difference they all sounded like almost I wasn't elected oh so I see but at that time there's about this time like saying the music was changed with Arnot I don't know if it was our Nick Coleman I don't know if it's in that era or not or was it before that or after that or not but the music was was changing a little bit and I think the bill then deal has something to do with uh where that came out now you were actually on two of those records that I discussed on kind of blue and you were on one track of giant steps uh yeah I just on giant steps of Coltrane was this Wynton Kelly and me and Paul on one track that was Naima right yeah now it's interesting if you look at that record in particular if there's there's alternate takes of drummer and piano players and I spoke to Cedar Walton about this a few years ago before he passed and he said that cedar and Lex Humphries lest he go up to Coltrane's house yeah and just jam with him and the first time that he laid Giant Steps on them Cedar Walton said oh this looks like a lovely ballad oh yeah and they're not realizing but it says that Lex Humphries had trouble with it when he ba doo Dada Dada Dada Dada Dada Dada he said he could never get the dog really that don't sound that difficult right now well now wait a minute so we have put it in in the context of 1958-59 yeah and maybe that was a new form certainly the changes were challenging but that was another direction from so what which was completely the opposite in the harmonic structure well I could see I can see Tommy Flanagan getting hung up with that that because uh when he went in a he looked at all those changes you know and he said uh two giant steps or something like that he backed up backed up Bob we lived there for that session with him no office I just heard about it and so because trainers to do a lot of stuff he said he'd do it with different rhythm sections he says the same tools with different rhythm sections and pick out which one he thought he wanted to keep you know so he did probably did one with like some person uh maybe cedar you know um all the trio was young like that but most of the time you kept Paul in it you know Paul was in most of them so uh because I think they lived together in Brooklyn or something so um not only that he loved it so like that so that's that's what he would do he would uh he would just do it like that you know he's just the same things with different rhythms like to see have it felt like this now there's another Coltrane record you were on call Coltrane jazz yeah and there's a tune on there called fifth house which is a now that's a rearranged version of what is this thing called love yeah now I'm just curious what your thoughts on this because the first part you cannot tell it's what is this thing called love well that's what happen we would Wynton right so Wednesday well what is this you know so thing called love yeah trying to say well uh this know told him what it was it's just play that that's it then it'll work out you know so that's what happened so on the record it's it's train really exploring his concept of his cultural matrix since but then when it's piano solo the rings yeah yeah what does this thing called love and then the work out I I never knew if that was an intentional thing or maybe rhythm section wasn't ready to deal with those changes no I was intentional you told him to do that so now let's talk about that the kind of blue date for a minute and nothing was prepared one first question who was the producer on that date was it Irving Townsend or was it teo massero do you remember I don't know I think I kind of remember tiel being in there I don't know it could have been both of them I don't know I think they had argument about who was that at one time I thought it was that yeah that he'll that's a controversy yes people I'm not really sure I can't remember exactly but I think it was deal because miles and tier was pretty tight you know there and he probably would have been there for something that important but but did they know that that was an important date at the time because when I read your accounts of it it was just like another date show up yeah yeah so I don't know I was the first one to get that cuz I had to set up the drums and fumble like that you know so uh I'm sitting there waiting for everybody to come in you know I just figures another miles date you know he didn't have any music for me all he would say to me is uh make this straight that's all it was you know what he probably said something similar left her to the horn players you know you know like good no play this record so that's how that worked you know we did that most of those things in one day but but I think it was two sessions the second one I I'm Vega but I don't even remember the second one but um it was two sessions and the only thing I heard him change and thing was like on Freddy freeloader at the end of turn around I wanted wanted wanted wanted to take see one didn't want to play another another core so he stopped it that's the only time I had anything changed with it the rest of us were like it's right in now you have such a connection with Paul Chambers can you talk about your your relationship with him your musical relationship how you guys you probably fit together like hand in glove well Paul is one of those guys like Quentin was it could probably play with anybody you know so let go all right or we're you know we just got we just got to to be able to do it you know like maybe sometimes I I was I was I was playing like a little head of the beat but he was playing like where he plays so as long as he did that and I did what I do was gonna we could still hook it up you know so uh so that's basically what his dumb guys should play with anybody really man I'm not kidding when could play like anybody could be sick drunk or anything you could play through all of it and sound good you know and I so I always try to get my myself to be like that too you know whatever Oh however I feel I'm always trying to you know give up my best you know cuz I got to learn that from them guys man now who came up with the bass intro for so what was that written out by Miles or or or maybe Gil Evans that's Gil I think that was skills uh transection and uh yeah I think that was Gil sensation anything else he can remember from those days in the studio for that session no tension was a tense no who see were very relaxed no no tension you know we that all those things is uh like we went on the gig and was gonna be no plan you know select this is you know for for you know this is swinging and like that so he got went into play that one too because you know that's what he wanted for that tune you know the rest of it he wanted for bill because that was bill style you know so so when played one tune you got that one wasn't got things so bill he panicked he said whoa wait a minute what's going on here you don't so I said cooler mind other things to you you know get both working so don't worry about it so he just said played one tune and got pay for a date so ain't nothing wrong with that I guess let me let me ask you a Miles Davis question when miles would perform in the 60s sometimes he would turn his back to the audience there's there's a couple conjectures that while simply wanted to hear they have the band here is sound live the other thing he was he was creating a band sound or the other thing was he was ignoring the audience you you know I don't know I think that just uh probably the medium who was checking those and he just probably made that up because he all know he just it was a kind of mild-mannered little guy you know he was like I get to plan he just go around and look at the guys throwing on or either go back Sam by the drums or get over by the piano and you know like that but uh it was not nothing intentional about turning you but to the audience and noting that ice that wasn't him so it's a it's a critic thing yes accreditor conversation yeah so let me ask you about live at the Black Hawk recordings with Hank Mobley what was how how was Hank perceived in that band after a Coltrane left well I don't know I don't think something that about Hank that mouths mouths and like I think I think was uh I think it's mentioned to me one time that train I mean that that Hank paid I hide it behind the beat a little bit and that made slows the rhythm section down or something I think he got that in his head and then he couldn't get it out you know so uh like we made all those records and uh when he put him out he took all the Hanks solos out you know so like I said wonder why I did that cuz Hank was burning you know I don't know why I did that and another thing about that date I didn't know we was recording while he was doing that you know I see all these wires running in in the Black Hawk there's a plate was a little place right next door there was a bar you know so they had all the equipment in the bar and he's wise is running from the band Sam which was like in the window of a store or something to back to this thing you know so I said what's going on later on I found that out that Diddy was recording you know so like we did that for two nights and that's how that ever you know I want to talk about smoking at the half note yeah West Montgomery's recording some of the great records some of those records influenced the next generation of of guitar player section so can you talk about your connection with Wes but Wes I actually met Wes the next day after I left Miles Davis man I was driving miles to a record date he was going through his doing 7 step 7 and I was going to the airport I had to rent a car so I dropped him off by the date and I took the car to the to the airport you know it turned it in and I came back and the next day I had a recording date with Arequipa knows that the Riverside you know so it was Wes and his uh his organ player his friend and so that's the first time I'd met either one of them you know so like we went in and we discussed the music a little bit I was Jimmy Smith right no no when Jimmy Smith I was another guy from his hometown I'll either come up in a minute it's a little too early for me so uh we did I said what what we doing so he says ah this is how this goes in bah bah bah bah bah he said I say ok so he she played at one time you know we'd run it over so you know back in those days you had a record date it was like four hours you had to do everything you had to do in four hours you know if you couldn't it'd probably have to make another record date and most of the time the companies didn't want to do that you know they wanted to do it in one day and get out of there so that's basically what happened then oh man this boy's name keeps coming up in my head and jumping out sorry about that no I am too now can you hear flame with Wes it was such a unique musician with you know playing by ear but playing the the the West voice sings the octaves and playing without a pick yeah what did you think of that at the time because had you played with many other guitar players nobody no not up to then I don't think I remember playing but uh any good guitar players up to the west I don't wanna be remembered guitar player in Washington when I was there and I can't think of nobody else it was that I was with it had a guitar in the band oh wait a minute tiny Grimes thank you I played a gig once in Philadelphia with tiny grinds where I had the wedeck dis kilts and this big fur hat what that was shocking but that's he did he was the only one I remember playing with de nada another thing I remember about tiny grands we were in the Paulo I think of something together now here man I just happen to be walking on the street in between the sets and uh the night before that somebody had had stolen a novel Shaw's base in front of mittens he thought he popped this car out there with the basin's to go inside for a minute to speak to somebody when came up when he came out the base was gone you know so like huh you know I didn't know I knew about it but uh the next day we're just walking in the street and uh some guy comes up to us and says uh hey man you do you guys musicians you say yeah you see oh yeah I say what's up so you say well you know anybody want to buy a bass I say what kind of birds you say you know one of them big ones I say I think I might yeah you know so I call a Bob I say look at man I think I found you found your bass you know the guy wants 50 bucks and what's $50 no bass is worth ten thousand so uh so I see yeah I think I found a bass man that gave me give me this guy's number he come back and get it got $50 got his bass back so that's the only you know you get top left I remember I'm Benna being a good guitar player to me and he played a lot of rock word cuz that's what you had to do at that time to um you know mega mega livin I guess and he was very popular at that yeah yeah so the guitar was having a transformation and pop music that there was Wes as well yeah so interesting you know as we were running out of time here I have way too many questions to ask you will have to have you come back again okay what are you doing tomorrow morning tomorrow morning sleep so I just want to say you're you're real legendary figure in jazz you've been around what kind of blue is what has passed it's its 50th anniversary and you know I think it's more than that now well 1960 I was born in 1960 and that's when that record 59 60 yeah 39 I said so you've had this long life you've seen everything probably you've like we're talking backstage everything has happened you you left your billfold and identification at home when you're in jail Harrison is she show up in Paris with no credit card and no money and no so you've seen the heights and you've dealt with like nonsense like that what what can you offer you you have you enjoyed a career in music or as it's been at eyes and lows or what can you offer all these students that are out here that are trying to pursue what you've pursued it at the greatest level well I don't know I don't know nothing else I would want to do oh could do I think my daddy used to tell me say well I can get your job in the in the government I said because he was a guard for about 30 years you know one of those temporary buildings on Constitution Avenue you know so uh I sitting up pop I don't think I want to do that so I would say if you and then you want to be musician you have to be true to what you're gonna do and be ready to go through whatever you have to go to the do it you know you know if you're in school learn everything possible that you can learn because when you get out in the world you know you I expect nobody to call you up and call you force specified thing you know like if you were just they'll be waiting for just jazz people call you because that might be a kind of limited you know so I would say learn everything you can learn play everything you can play and just try to be ready when opportunity knocks be prepared that's the best I can tell you and I'll I used to tell God you know if if you're smart enough you have another job that you can do in case another that works for you you know so basically that's where I tell most soon and say uh if I'm out of the I Love New York and uh somebody coming to see their man I want to come to New York what do you think I should do I see you have some family a lot of money because it's gonna be some ups and downs and you're gonna have to be be ready to take care of it you know well listen your personality tells the whole story it's like positive personality positive life and in it expresses itself in your music as well oh thank you you're welcome thank you no thank you Jimmy Cobb everybody

Channel: NYU Steinhardt Jazz Studies

Views: 19,801

Rating: 4.92278 out of 5

Keywords: jazz, Jimmy Cobb (Musical Artist), Miles Davis (Musical Artist), Kind Of Blue (Musical Album), NYU, New York University (College/University), Steinhardt School Of Culture Education And Human Development (College/University), Jazz Studies, Improvisation, Legend, Interview

Id: eDmh7u_iM2o

Length: 58min 53sec (3533 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 19 2015