My music playlist for today (April 17, 2012 edition)

Billy Cobham has some massive shoulders sitting at the bottom of a thick, muscular neck. He has the build of a pro football linebacker … at least he does in many of the pictures I’ve seen of him.

Billy Cobham at Kongsberg Jazz Festival, 1974 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Maybe that’s what makes him one of the most powerful drummers in jazz-fusion. His playing isn’t just strong. It’s muscular. It’s been that way in his playing with Miles Davis, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, his solo work.

He’s one of those drummers a band can be easily built around, and it’ll be rock-solid. Just like his first solo album, “Spectrum,” in 1973, which featured the guitar playing of Tommy Bolin, who’d go on to play in the rock giant Deep Purple.

One Christmas a few years ago, when my youngest son was trying to take up the drums himself, I went looking for an instructional DVD of any one of my favorite drummers to give to him as a stocking stuffer. I didn’t have much luck finding an instructional DVD, but I did end up giving my son a Billy Cobham DVD to use as “inspiration.”

“Spectrum” is considered by many fans to be his greatest solo work yet, but that doesn’t mean everything else has been sub-par. Oh, no. He’s only continued to flex his fusion muscles through the years.

Bless us all.

My music playlist for today (April 10, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)
My music playlist for today (April 3, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)
My music playlist for today (March 27, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)
My music playlist for today (March 18, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)

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About A View From The Middle (Class)

Hi, my name's John. I've thought about this blogging stuff for a number of years now. I got into it for real on November 10, 2011, after suddenly losing my job in late October. I've been blogging ever since, and I kept it up over a period of a year and four months of being unemployed or under-employed, to try and paint a picture of what being jobless with a family to support can be like. Finally, on February 28, 2013, I got a better job that puts us back into the "middle class." I won't stop blogging, though. Who knows, maybe I can actually turn this blogging stuff into a way to earn a living someday! If you go to my blog at http://viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com/ and click on my About page, it'll tell you a lot about me -- maybe more than you ever wanted to know. I'm just your average, laid-back guy who's GOING TO MAKE IT IN THIS WORLD, despite all the roadblocks thrown in the way. I also launched a "niche" blog on music at http://thecrossovermusicchannel.blogspot.com/ that I'm very excited about because of the popularity of music playlist articles here. Also, check out and "Like" this blog's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/daddysangbassdude2 for instant updates. Look forward to seeing y'all around!

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