Jimmy Cobb, jazz drums

MSU Federal Credit Union Jazz Artist in Residence Jimmy Cobb opens the week performing with the MSU Professors of Jazz during the Credit Union’s Blue Mondays concert.


Randy Gelispie, MSU instructor of jazz drums has played with a lot of jazz greats since he began playing professional drums in ninth grade. Last December, the instructor of jazz drums at the MSU College of Music brought a legendary figure with iconic connections to campus for a weeklong residency as part of the MSUFCU Jazz Artist in Residence program.

“We called Jimmy and he said ‘cool,’” says Gelispie of the day he and Director of Jazz Studies Rodney Whitaker phoned Jimmy Cobb and asked if he would come to MSU. “He’s like that. You’ll ask him a question and he’ll just answer in a real laid back way.”

Cobb, a giant among jazz drummers, worked with Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Cannonball Adderley and Co. in the 1950s and 1960s. His inspirational career includes the masterpiece “Kind of Blue”—the most popular jazz recording in history. His contributions to the jazz canon include playing on “Sketches of Spain,” “Someday My Prince will Come,” “Live at Carnegie Hall,” “Live at the Blackhawk,” “Porgy and Bess,” and many other watershed Miles Davis recordings. In addition, Cobb worked extensively with artists that including Dinah Washington, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, and Billie Holiday. In 2008, Cobb received the Don Redman Heritage Award, followed in 2009 by the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award. Cobb remains active, leading Jimmy Cobb’s Mob in New York City, and touring internationally in Japan, China, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, and South Africa.

Cobb was the second of four critically acclaimed artists to come to the university this academic year through the jazz residency program supported by $1 million endowment from the MSU Federal Credit Union. Cobb mentored and performed with MSU jazz students Nov. 30-Dec. 6, and also took to the road with the MSU Jazz Orchestra I to work with students at high schools and academies throughout Michigan. Cobb’s packed residency included public performances at the MSU Federal Credit Union and Fairchild Theatre on campus.

“It was very rewarding to have him here,” says Gelispie “My students loved him. They enjoyed the connections he brought by playing all those years with all those jazz greats.”

MSU Jazz Studies graduate student Nick Bracewell says he was amazed by Cobb’s visit, as well hearing that Gelispie knew Cobb from life on the jazz circuit.

“I’m always going to remember getting to sit right behind Mr. Cobb and watching him play,” says Bracewell, a jazz drummer. “Meeting someone like him—another human being who has lived out the dreams we all have as musicians—makes it all seem possible.”

Whitaker says that bringing jazz icons to MSU provides an invaluable experience for students, and solidifies the College’s position as a center for jazz study and tradition. Visits by jazz luminaries also support the College’s initiatives to provide music education and performance opportunities to communities and students across Michigan.

“The generosity of the MSU Federal Credit Union has made it possible for us to bring in artists who have significantly shaped this great American art form we call jazz,” says Whitaker. “We’re exceptionally grateful for their visionary gift that allows us to achieve the highest standards of excellence in jazz education and performance.”

The MSUFCU Jazz Artist in Residence program represents the largest-ever investment in the College of Music’s curriculum. The 2015-2016 program features a blazing line-up of critically acclaimed musicians from the international, national, and regional scene, including Trumpeter Brian Lynch, Drummer Jimmy Cobb, Pianist Kenny Barron, and Saxophonist Tim Warfield, Jr.

Recap: On the Road with Jimmy Cobb

While an MSUFCU Jazz Artist in Residence in December, jazz drummer and icon Jimmy Cobb took to the road with Jazz Orchestra I as part of MSU’s efforts to bring jazz performance and education to Michigan high schools, music academies, and colleges.

Destinations and highlights:

  • Hackett Catholic Central High School/Western Michigan University—25 students from Hackett and 25 from WMU participated in an outreach concert that was attended by 300 community members.
  • Ann Arbor Pioneer High School—65 students participated in an outreach concert that was attended by 750 community members.
  • Traverse City West High School—40 students participated in workshops and attended an outreach concert with 650 community members.
  • Detroit Carr Center—85 students and community members attended an outreach concert.

What people said:

“The opportunity for students from this area to collaborate, share, and listen to the students from MSU is beyond measure. Working with master jazz performer and educator Rodney Whitaker is an experience that will forever impact them as musicians and humans. Finally, having the opportunity to listen, speak with, and break bread with a jazz icon like Jimmy Cobb will be a career highlight for many of the young jazz musicians attending the workshop and the concert.

“We are all indebted to Michigan State University College of Music, the Jazz Studies program of Michigan State, and the MSU Federal Credit Union for supporting this endeavor, but perhaps more importantly we should all be grateful to Professor Rodney Whitaker for including students from throughout southeast Michigan in this once in a lifetime experience.”

–David A. Leach, director of bands, Ann Arbor Pioneer High School

MSUFCU Jazz Artist in Residence

Jimmy Cobb, jazz drums
Residency Schedule Overview
Nov. 30 – Dec. 6, 2015

Legendary jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb, a superb, mostly self-taught musician, is the elder statesman of all the Miles Davis bands. Cobb's inspirational work with Davis, John Coltrane, and Cannonball Adderley and Co. spanned from 1957 to 1963, and included the masterpiece “Kind of Blue”—the most popular jazz recording in history. He also played on “Sketches of Spain,” “Someday My Prince will Come,” “Live at Carnegie Hall,” “Live at the Blackhawk,” “Porgy and Bess,” and many other watershed Miles Davis recordings. Cobb has worked extensively with a range of artists including Dinah Washington, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry, Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, and Billie Holiday. In 2008, Cobb received the Don Redman Heritage Award and received the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters award in 2009. 

Official website for Jimmy Cobb

  • Monday, Nov. 30, Press Day, MSUFCU Blue Monday
  • Tuesday, Dec. 1, Rehearsals and Workshops at MSU
  • Wednesday, Dec. 2, Hackett Catholic Central High School, Kalamazoo; joined by Western Michigan University
  • Thursday, Dec. 3, Ann Arbor Pioneer/ Huron High School/Southeastern Music Academy at Ann Arbor Pioneer
  • Friday, Dec. 4, MSU Fairchild Theatre MSU
  • Saturday, Dec. 5, Traverse City West High School, Traverse City
  • Sunday, Dec. 6, Carr Center, Detroit