The daughter of Jimmy Cobb has launched an online fundraiser to help her father with medical issues that have caused physical and financial challenges for the legendary jazz drummer.
Cobb, 91, is the last surviving musician who played on Miles Davis’s best-selling record Kind of Blue. He also performed on several other Miles Davis albums, including Sketches of Spain and Someday My Prince Will Come. Other artists with whom Cobb has worked include John Coltrane, Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Sarah Vaughan, Benny Golson, Dunah Washington and Wes Montgomery.
Cobb has continued to record music of his own at a consistent pace; his most recent album was You’ll See in 2016.
“He’s dedicated the last 70 years of his life to the art of jazz, and although there’s nothing he’d rather do than continue to support himself and his family while doing what he loves, it has become far too difficult of a task,” Serena Cobb writes.
Cobb’s daughter goes on to explain that for the past two years, her father has been coping with medical issues that have been “causing severe challenges for him physically,” and that financial limitations have kept him from receiving proper treatment.
“We’ve often been left in a position to have to choose between medical attention and his basic necessities,” Serena writes. “As the days pass, he continues to become more and more in need of assistance.”
The family created the GoFundMe campaign on Jan. 31. In the first two weeks, more than 1,500 donors raised more than $75,000 toward the family’s $200,000 fundraising goal.
She says the family is pursuing a “holistic approach” to treatment that requires out-of-pocket coverage, and that Cobb currently needs a full-time caregiver in addition to medication and other expenses resulting from Cobb’s inability to perform.
“I come to you all, as his community, friends, fans, colleagues, family members, jazz lovers, music lovers, and fellow humans and ask that you help me help my father,” Serena writes. “By showing him some of the love that he’s shown the world, through both his spirit and his music, this could shine a whole new light on his life.”
In 2008, Jimmy Cobb was a recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters fellowship and the Don Redman Heritage Award.