Billy Cobham wearing a Flightmaster

Once upon a time, as a youngster, I owned a drum set (thanks mom!), and was struggling to become remotely competent in my playing. That dream died when the set was ruined in a fire, but I retain strong memories of the drummers who I particularly liked at the time. Billy Cobham was one, though even then, to my immature ears, his spectacular mechanical abilities and technique, as impressive as they were, did not move me as much as the work of Lenny White, Tony Williams, and David Garibaldi, to name a few.