75TH BIRTHDAY TOURBilly Cobham came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu orchestra. According to Allmusic’s reviewer, Cobham is “generally acclaimed as fusion’s greatest drummer”. He was inducted into the modern drummer hall of fame in 1987 and the classic drummer hall of fame in 2013.Cobham’s influence stretched far beyond jazz: prog contemporaries Bill Bruford of king crimson listened closely to what he was up to, younger drummers like Danny Carey of tool learned from him, and even prince played a version of Cobham’s “stratus” in concert. There’s maybe no bigger fan than Phil Collins, who has named Mahavishnu’s inner mounting flame as a key influence on his early style. “Billy Cobham played some of the finest drumming I’ve ever heard on that record,” he said.