He’s still got it.
Billy Cobham, 74. One of the greatest drummers of our times.
At the Savoy JAZZFest, Cobham enchanted the audience of the Savoy Theater in Helsinki with his ensemble consisting of other older musicians.
The festival, first of its kind, and which took over last weekend, was perfect for the old, historical venue that has provided entertainment since 1937 and is located next to the Esplanade Park.
On Friday night, during Cobham’s set, there weren’t many empty seats left.
Cobham, who has visited Finland before, but who I was honored to observe live for the first time, focused on songs from his two first albums.
He opened with the eponymous song from his second album Crosswinds from 1974. The song has a lazy funky feel to warm up the audience, and after the warm-up it was time for the first sprint, a fast, funky bravado: “The Pleasant Pheasant.”
Then they spaced out with “Savannah the Serene.”
At times during the set, Cobham zoned out in a slightly careless state, hitting the cymbals, toms and the snare with very loose wrists. It quickly became clear that it was part of his panache. He flipped styles constantly, which is surely one reason he is known as a master of fusion.
The group really lightened up the audience with “Stratus” from Cobham’s debut Spectrum (1973), and the crowd, north of middle age, started tapping their feet in unison with the catchy rhythm and heavy bassline. The younger members of the audience may have recognized the bassline in
Cobham gave a massive attack on the drums with a thundering solo that was definitely one of the highlights of the evening.
”It’s so rare that I get to the few cities that I have a personal relationship,” Cobham said between songs. “To be in Savoy. Wow! We made it.”
Pudu. Pumm. Thwack! Soon, another drum solo was rolling at the beginning of one of his rarer songs “Conundrum,” which was actually released in 2002 on a CD for drummers along with a notation guide.
On Saturday, it was time for Jazzmeia Horn, 27, to deliver an enchanting session of scat singing, vocal soloing—a difficult skill to master.
Horn deputed in 2017 with her praised album A Social Call but at Savoy, the audience was not treated to many of the songs from the collection.
Instead, Horn turned her vocal cords into a rapid-fire instrument, hitting low, middle and high notes with “Dududududadidididi, lalalala, uuuuuuu!”
She was the leading instrument in the technically brilliant band consisting of Victor Gould (piano), Ben Williams (bass) and Anwar Marshal (drums).
Horn improvised one of her idol’s, the late Betty Carter’s “Please Do Something” into a lightning speed scat song; for one to give a good feel for her talent and on the other hand in respect to Carter, considered the most adventurous female jazz singer of our times.
Somewhere in the middle of her show, which lasted about one hour and thirty minutes, Horn said that she was going to perform one of the most played songs on the American radio, “A Timeless Place (The Peacocks).”
Then it began: the piano melody.
Horn’s voice turned into whipped cream over the pancake and jam of the piano. It was delicious and served fresh!
Thunderous applause followed, and the audience was still licking their lips when they left the theater.
