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Arnett Cobb was born on August 10, 1918 in Houston, Texas. Taught to play piano by his grandmother, he went on to study violin before taking up the saxophone in high school. At fifteen he joined Louisiana bandleader Frank Davis, performing around Houston and throughout Louisiana during the summers. He continued his career in the mid-Thirties with the local bands of Chester Boone and Milt Larkin; the latter home to Illinois Jacquet, Wild Bill Davis and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson.

Arnett went on to replace Illinois in Lionel Hampton’s band in 1942 and is credited with the words and the music to “Smooth Sailing” which became a jazz standard in 1951, and sung by Ella Fitzgerald on her Lullabies of Birdland. After departing from Hampton’s band, Cobb formed his own seven-piece band, but suffering a serious illness in 1950, which necessitated spinal surgery, the group was disbanded.

Reforming the band upon recovery, in 1956 its success was again interrupted, this time by a car crash. This accident had long-term effects on his health, involving long hospital stays and making him permanently reliant on crutches. Nevertheless, Cobb worked as a soloist through the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S. and abroad, working with Jimmy Heath and Joe Henderson in Europe during the late Eighties.

Arnett Cobb, tenor saxophonist, passed away in his hometown in March 24, 1989 at the age of 70.

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