It has been on my mind for quite some time to return to past recording productions and revisit the music that I felt I was not capable of adequately expressing and expounding my feelings through the notes. I am an avid believer that there is a time and place for everything that we do in our lives. Some things we do immediately, on the spot but then, there are other times when the idea is just a fragment of the “whole” and I can’t get past a certain point with it. A great Example of this is presented through some compositions on the Crosswinds album that I recorded in 1974. “Spanish Moss” reflects a side of my personality that I was seeking without really understanding what it was: Peace of Mind and a chance to enjoy my visual experiences at a pace that I could be comfortable with.
As a working musician I travel a lot and this means encountering many different people and experiencing variations on the same social theme that I would encounter in my personal world. Because of these experiences I share through my music and my photography (The photo of the CD cover of the Crosswinds album is my creation.) When I went to Monterey, California I was able to experience the beauty and power of that city and the smaller towns close to it. One region was Big Sur on route 1. I was very much inspired to document what I saw with music and I did but not to the degree that I believed the experience warranted. In writing Spanish Moss I could only go so far since I lacked the knowledge and experience to move past the artistic point I was at in 1974: that of being able to project through my musical compositions what I captured visually. I can say the same for “Heather”, “Pleasant Pheasant” and “Taurian Matador” (not on “Crosswinds” but on “Spectrum”). Fast forward to 2017: Now, through more recent experiences, I am very comfortable with the notes that I use to create a sonic image of what I envision in my minds eye for what I view through the aperture of my lens.
“Spectrum” was the first but “The Crosswinds Project” will further enhance what I see through what I hear. With the support of Ernie Watts, Scott Tibbs, Fareed Haque and Tim Landers I will present of my Crosswinds Album along with updates of other compositions from that general period and a few more recent but rarely performed pieces from my song book.

Billy Cobham