February 25, 2019. Most young jazz musicians move to New York City to further their jazz careers. Bobby Broom moved away, to Chicago, and has become the patriarch of jazz guitar in the Second City over the last 30-plus years. Soul Fingers is his second album devoted primarily to reimagining the tunes that shaped the pop, funk, […]
Soul Fingers, the recently released album by Bobby Broom & the Organi–Sation, has remained in the top 10 on jazz radio in the United States since its release last October. That’s three straight months! Representing the debut recording of this group, which began as the opening touring act of the legendary chart topping group, Steely Dan, […]
The other day I got a message on Facebook asking this question. It’s a good one, but not one that I’m asked that much. When I was trying to figure it out for myself, it was the biggest concern and dilemma in my musical life. Back then I was doing tons of daily listening to all […]
Jazz guitarist Bobby Broom on how Wes Montgomery made his epic mark on the music. September 17th is Wes’ Tribute Day at IUPUI in Indianapolis, Indiana as part of the Indy Jazz Fest. An Event of the Indiana Bicentennial Celebration, sponsored by IUPUI and REI Real Estate, this day-long tribute to legendary Jazz guitarist and Indianapolis native […]
There is something about this performance that speaks to one aspect of the history of America’s relationship to African American culture and vice versa. On display here are two eternal forces, both mothership vessels, one that carries black life itself and the other, the symbolic essence of that life with its past and present of […]
Transcript and addendum from the YouTube video, Bobby Broom on Wes Montgomery’s 1959 Jazz Guitar Impact: “Much has been made of the year 1959 in the history of Jazz music. It’s been called its most prolific year. It’s been called the year Jazz died. In any case, the recordings such as Ornette Colman’s Shape of Jazz […]
My heart is heavy. I just learned that Larry Rosen of GRP Records (Grusin-Rosen Productions) has passed, apparently due to brain cancer. I first met Larry in 1980, when I was just 19 years old. I was asked to sub for guitarist, Jeff Mironov, on a tour of Japan with Dave Grusin and the GRP […]
In this moment in my musical life things are good and I take absolutely none of it for granted. The fact that I’ve had the chance to play organ–trio jazz with the Bobby Broom Organi-Sation for thousands of people per night, opening for Steely Dan in arenas, amphitheaters and concert halls all over North America, […]
My two cents in response to the recent, New Yorker magazine Jazz ‘satire’, “Sonny Rollins: In His Own Words” by Django Gold, a senior writer for The Onion. In order for satire to work here, there must be the assumption that the practice of jazz involves some sort of vice, stupidity, etc.—something to expose and actually mock. Since the […]
THE STORY BEHIND THE MUSIC At long last, I’ve decided to release these homemade demos that I’ve been holding onto for around 20 years. Over those years, I’ve revisited them from time to time and always enjoyed. At the time, I remember doing all I could to put the most into the music and get the […]