BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " ARNETT COBB " HIS PLAYING WAS BETWEEN SWING AND EARLY RHYTHM AND BLUES :

                                      BLACK                  SOCIAL              HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 A stomping Texas tenor player in the tradition of Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb's accessible playing was between swing and early rhythm & blues. After playing in Texas with Chester Boone (1934-1936) and Milt Larkin (1936-1942), Cobb emerged in the big leagues by succeeding Illinois Jacquet with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra (1942-1947). His version of "Flying Home No. 2" became a hit, and he was a very popular soloist with Hampton. After leaving the band,Cobb formed his own group, but his initial success was interrupted in 1948, when he had to undergo an operation on his spine. After recovering, he resumed touring. But a major car accident in 1956 crushed Cobb's legs and he was reduced to using crutches for the rest of his life. However, by 1959, he returned to active playing and recording. Cobb spent most of the 1960s leading bands back in Texas, but starting in 1973, he toured and recorded more extensively, including a tenor summit with Jimmy Heath and Joe Henderson in Europe as late as 1988. Arnett Cobb made many fine records through the years for such labels as Apollo, Columbia/Okeh, Prestige (many of the latter are available on the OJC series), Black & Blue, Progressive, Muse, and Bee Hive.

Arnett Cleophus Cobb (August 10, 1918 – March 24, 1989)^[1] was an American jazz tenor saxo  Lullabies of Birdland.

honist, sometimes known as the "Wild Man of the Tenor Sax" because of his uninhibited stomping style. Cobb is credited with writing the words and music for the jazz standard "Smooth Sailing" (1951), which Ella Fitzgerald recorded for Decca on her album 

Born in Houston, Texas, he was taught to play piano by his grandmother, and he went on to study violin, before taking up tenor saxophone in the high school band. At the age of fifteen he joined Louisiana bandleader Frank Davis's band, doing shows in Houston and throughout Louisiana during the summer. Cobb continued his musical career with the local bands of trumpeter Chester Boone, from 1934 to 1936, and Milt Larkin, from 1936 to 1942 (which included a period on the West Coast with Floyd Ray). Among his bandmates in the Larkin band were Illinois Jacquet, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Tom Archia, Cedric Haywood, and Wild Bill Davis. Having turned down an offer from Count Basie in 1939, Cobb replaced Jacquet in Lionel Hampton's band in 1942, staying with Hampton until 1947. Cobb's featured solo on Hampton's theme song "Flying Home No. 2" generated much excitement, his blasting style earning him the label "Wild Man of the Tenor Sax".

Cobb then started his own seven-piece band, but suffered a serious illness in 1950, which necessitated spinal surgery. Although he re-formed the band on his recovery, in 1956 its success was again interrupted, this time by a car crash. This had long-term effects on his health, involving periods in hospital, and making him permanently reliant on crutches. Nevertheless, Cobb worked as a soloist through the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S. and abroad. As late as 1988 he played with Jimmy Heath and Joe Henderson in Europe.

He died in his hometown, at the age of 70 in 1989.