Photo by Dino Perrucci

Drummer Jimmy Cobb – best known for supplying the backbeat of Miles Davis’ First Great Sextet – died earlier this week in Manhattan due to complications from lung cancer. He was 91.

Most notably, fans could hear Cobb’s handiwork on the classic Davis release Kind of Blue.

As Davis told him before laying down the iconic recording, “Jimmy, you know what to do. Just make it sound like it’s floating.” 

Cobb was born in Washington, DC on Jan. 20, 1929, was a self-taught musicians and started landing major professional gigs by age 20. He saw drumming as both a passion and a vocation.

“I figured it was something I’d like to do,” he said in 2019, “and when I learned enough to do it, I figured that would be what I would do for the rest of my life.”

He was awarded the title of NEA Jazz Master in 2009 and, through his career, he shared both stage and studio with additional legends like John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday.

Later in life, he mentored the likes of Christian McBride, Wallace Roney and Brad Mehldau.

“Sir Jimmy Cobb. You swung loving energy to everyone. We will always love you. RIP,” McBride wrote following Cobb’s passing.

He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Watch Cobb perform alongside Davis – circa 1959 – below: