WOMAD

Billy Cobham & Asere

From Cuba, United States

Cracking Cuban-American collaboration. Don't tell George Bush

What was a semi-casual introduction at this very festival has led, six years later, to a firm, ongoing collaboration spanning continents and generations. New York drumming man mountain Billy Cobham has always kept an inquisitive ear out for new sounds and new musical experiences, so he jumped at the opportunity of working with Cuban youngbloods Asere. Despite Billy being largely regarded as a jazz drummer (thanks to stints as sticksman to Miles Davis, Horace Silver and Dexter Gordon), he and Asere bonded in a very unforced manner, able to communicate musically without anything getting lost in translation. It helped that there was a common ingredient - Cobham actually originally hails from Panama and counts an occasion playing timbales as his earliest memory, It was therefore fitting that he'd go on to play with the greatest timbales player ever - one Tito Puente. The six-year Cobham/Asere association just got cemented a little further with the release of their first record together, the wonderful De Cuba Y De Panama which, as the title more than suggests, traces the shared heritages of both places. When Billy Cobham and Asere take to the stage together, the world appears a slightly smaller, more fraternal place.

Biog by Nige Tassell