Bio

Part of a precociously talented cadre at Manhattan’s “Fame” High School of Music and Art that included Steve Jordan, Omar Hakim, Marcus Miller, and Bernard Wright, Broom spent time sitting in with legendary bebop pianist Al Haig at New York City’s Gregory’s piano bar. He was still a teenager when he sat in for two weeks with Art Blakey at Mikell’s and ended up declining the drummer’s offer to join the Jazz Messengers. Instead, he joined up with trumpeter Tom Browne, with whom he started recording for GRP. Broom quickly became a staple at the label, recording with Dave Grusin, Dave Valentin, and Bernard Wright and cutting his first two albums as a leader, 1981’s Clean Sweep (GRP/Arista) and 1984’s Livin’ for the Beat (Arista).

Resulting in a change in musical direction and a rededication to straight-ahead jazz, Broom relocated to Chicago in the mid-1980s. He got an important boost when hollow-body patriarch Kenny Burrell recruited him to join his Jazz Guitar Band in 1986, which led to two Blue Note recordings with the ensemble. He also toured and recorded with B3 master Charles Earland, jazz icon Miles Davis, tenor star Stanley Turrentine, trumpet legend Dizzy Gillespie, and New Orleans funkster Dr. John, a gig that lasted from 1994 to 1999.

He formed the Bobby Broom Trio in 1990 and the Deep Blue Organ Trio with organist Chris Foreman in 1999, a group that recorded four blues-steeped albums before disbanding. In 2001, Broom reintroduced himself to jazz audiences with his recording, Modern Man, featuring Dr. Lonnie Smith, Idris Muhammad, and Ronnie Cuber. Then, with the Bobby Broom Trio serving as his primary creative vehicle, he released a string of critically hailed albums, starting with 2001’s Stand! (Premonition). The group had a stellar run on Origin Records, starting with 2007’s Song and Dance. Moving from strength to strength on the label, he released the acclaimed live session The Way I Play in 2008, the pivotal Bobby Broom Plays for Monk in 2009, and 2012’s collection of inviting original tunes Upper West Side Story. More recently, he expanded the trio with rising Chicago pianist Justin Dillard on 2022’s Keyed Up on Steele Records. He contributed two records with his updated organ trio, the Organi-Sation, with Soul Fingers and Jamalot in 2018 and 2024, respectively. In 2025, the BB Trio joined the Chicago Jazz Orchestra for a chart-topping release in tribute to the jazz guitar hero Wes Montgomery entitled More Amor.

A dedicated educator, Broom earned a B.A. in music from Columbia College and an M.M. in jazz pedagogy from Northwestern University. He has taught at the University of Hartford, the American Conservatory of Music, Roosevelt University, and DePaul University. Bobby is currently a tenured Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University. He’s worked with a jazz program sponsored by the Ravinia Festival Organization since 2000, mentoring music students in public high schools throughout Chicago.