Spectrum album cover
Spectrum

Billy Cobham

1973
Atlantic

Recorded in a couple days by an insane lineup — Miles/Mahavishnu drummer Cobham and future Miami Vice composer Jan Hammer made up the core, but they were supplemented by Deep Purple/James Gang shredder Tommy Bolin, session legend bassist Leland Sklar, and a host of others — this dizzying display of musicianship takes all that talent and harnesses it into one of the great jazz fusion records of all time. Cobham’s kit (mic’ed to the max by Beatles engineer Ken Scott) is the centerpiece, the other players following his lead into the ultraviolet range. It’s not difficult to understand why songs like “Quadrant 4” and “Stratus” blew open their listeners’ third eyes.

Jeff Treppel

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