Original image by There Stands the Glass.
I paid $45 for the best seat in a spectacular venue on Thursday, September 15. The sound field for a band led by an iconic innovator was perfect. I anticipated a fiery volcano. Instead, I heard the sonic equivalent of a scented candle.
The funk-free 90-minute performance by the jazz fusion titan Billy Cobham’s Crosswinds Project wasn’t what I had in mind. The drummer’s best work from the 1970s is dangerous and exhilarating. Thursday’s outing was safe and ordinary.
Cobham, 78, is still an athletic presence. Yet along with guitarist Mark Whitfield, keyboardist Scott Tibbs and bassist Tim Landers, he played with a clinical precision intended to please the gearheads and technicians in the audience of about 300.