Most recently he's worked tens of thousands of miles touring the U.S, Canada & Europe w/ Nick Moss & the Flip Tops. Over the past twenty years, the list of Blues Greats from around Chicago & elsewhere, Eddie has had the great pleasure of drumming behind has been to say the least, unreal. To name quite a few: Jody Williams (Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, & The pioneer of many Rock & Roll guitar styles), Pinetop Perkins (Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Nighthawk, & The Great Muddy Waters Band), Willie"Bigeyes"Smith (Bo Diddley & Muddy Waters) & Hubert Sumlin (James Cotton & Howlin� Wolf).
Life in large part is about places you've been & who you've been there w/, so... the following is worth mentioning: The '05 Chicago Blues Festival @ Petrillo Band Shell - '07 Poconos Blues Festival w/ Jody Williams (PA)- '07 San Francisco Blues Festival w/ Nick Moss & The Fliptops - The St. Louis Blues Fest w/ Hubert Sumlin - The Pittsburgh Blues Fest - The King Bisquit Blues Fest (Helena, AR) - The State Theatre (Kalamazoo, MI) - Clarksdale, MS - Bull Durham Blues Fest - Buddy Guy's Legends - Detroit Institute of Art - '05 Chicago Blues Festival w/ Dusty Brown - '01 Blues Fest w/ Little Smokey Smothers (Lucerne, Switzerland) - 12/07 The Rhythm Room (Phoenix, AZ) w/ Piano Great Henry Grey - The Blues King w/ Billy Flynn & Big Pete Pearson as well as The Rhythm Room All-Stars (Phoenix, AZ).
This visit to Phoenix, AZ also included a Bob Corritore produced recording session with Billy Flynn, Big Pete Pearson, Henry Grey, Johnny Dyer, Chris James, Patrick Rynn & Bob Corritore. From '05 until recent, both Kenny Smith & Eddie Kobek (alternately) provide the genuine blues beat behind Willie "big-eyes" Smith, (long time drummer for The Great Muddy Waters) as he tours promoting his most recent release as a front-man playing harmonica. Eddie Kobek said: "As a kid growing up, never in my wildest imagination could I see myself sitting behind the greatest blues drummer hands down".
Along w/ Willie is the great & vital blues bass-man Bob Stroger (has bass will travel...) along w/ Little Frank on guitar. Eddie first met the "indestructible piano-man" Pinetop Perkins, back in the mid 80's working clubs throughout the mid-west. His time w/ Pinetop continued throughout the 90's & for a period before his passing in 01' even included Dave Myers, (Little Walter's Aces, also the first musician to be persuaded by Fender to play their new electric bass guitar model) on bass. Worth mentioning was a '93 appearance w/ Robert Jr. Lockwood in Cleveland, OH. The past several years w/ Willie "big-eyes" Smith have made way for performances with Pinetop @ many of the Blues Festivals & club dates mentioned w/ Hubert Sumlin including: The 2007 King Bisquit Festival in Helena, Arkansas.
From 1998-2007, if you happened into Billy Flynns' seemingly timeless gig @ The Smoke Daddy in Chicago, Eddie Kobek was there holdin' it down on drums. On Division St. bluesmen along the lines of: Eddie C. Campbell, Dusty Brown, Jody Williams, Lil Aurther Duncan, Illinois Slim, Jesse Fortune, Dave Waldman, Johnny Dollar, Eddie Taylor Jr. & countless others would drop by to sit in w/ some timeless results. Other notable gigs throughout the years have come to include Rockin' Johnny & The Lazy Boys (Martin Lang - Harp & Sho Komyia - Bass), Little Arther Duncan & The Back-Scratchers, Taildragger, Rob Stone & The C-Notes, Jesse Fortune, John Brim, Yank Rachel, Barrelhouse Chuck, Barkin Bill, Mary Lane, Lazy Lester, Rusty Zinn, Bernard Reed (bass), The Chicago Blues Reunion, etc... I could go on & on, what really shows is this man's love for the music as well as for the people who have helped shape the sound of roots blues.
Recent studio work - watch for Chris James' recent recording to be released June 12th on the Earwig label. I have the great pleasure of playing on my second Earwig release. This session is also graced by the drumming of Sam Lay as well as Willie Hayes. Thats it & thats all, but I am sure there will be more to come...
