Billy Cobham with Guy Barker at Ronnie Scott’s, London 10th June 2026

Billy Cobham with Guy Barker at Ronnie Scott’s, London - 10 June 2026

Review by Robert Corich

There are drummers, there are great drummers, and then there is Billy Cobham.

At Ronnie Scott’s tonight, the man who helped redefine what a drummer could do in jazz was back behind the kit with the formidable Guy Barker Big Band — and with Gary Husband on keyboards, just for good measure. Now that is what you might call bringing in the heavy artillery.

The set moved through ‘Times of My Life’, ‘A Little Travelin’ Music’, ‘Total Eclipse’, ‘Red Moon’, ‘Spectrum’ and ‘Tinseltown’, before ‘Red Baron’ brought proceedings to a suitably explosive conclusion.

And then there is Billy’s drumming. From the incendiary days of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Birds of Fire, through Spectrum and the countless musical adventures that followed, Cobham has always possessed something beyond technique. There is a magic in the way he makes the drums speak — explosive one moment, delicate the next, always seemingly dancing just ahead of the music. To hear that same magic still coming from the kit in 2026 is quite something. The years may have accumulated, but the magic hasn’t disappeared.

And what a band around him. Rocco Zifarelli was superb on guitar, occasionally producing flashes that were wonderfully reminiscent of Tommy Bolin — not imitation, but that same intoxicating meeting of rock attitude, fluid phrasing and jazz-fusion adventure.

Gary Husband on keyboards was equally impressive. The last time I saw Husband was behind the drums for Robin Trower, where he was absolutely phenomenal; seeing him behind the keyboards tonight was a timely reminder that this is a musician with considerably more strings (and keys) to his bow than the drum stool alone would suggest.

Throw Guy Barker’s big band into that mix and Ronnie Scott’s suddenly seemed a very small room containing an enormous amount of music.

My daughter Bella accompanied me on the night and was, like me, completely captivated by the class on that stage. Sometimes great musicianship needs no explanation — you simply know when you’re witnessing something special.

And then, tucked away somewhere in the history of Cobham’s Ronnie Scott’s appearances, just prior to the COVID years, is an intriguing conversation about him and with him contributing to new Osibisa recordings alongside founder members Wendell Richardson, Teddy Osei and Robert Bailey. Teddy has since passed away but it was his wish for Billy to be involved and the man himself did say he wanted to hit the sticks with the Afro-Rock originals, so time is clearly moving on. Perhaps that particular door is still open.

Read into that what you will.

For tonight, though, the message was rather simpler:

Billy Cobham is a class act and still means business.