Mr. Ron Davis, the father of deceased 17 year-old Jordan Davis, made a beautiful post-trail statement this evening. Which got me thinking… I do not believe this country will ever recover from its self-concocted racism, the fuel of the tormented Black men and women who worked to build this nation, and the life-blood of the […]
I can’t remember the last time I had such a profound reaction to a guitar player than when I heard Jef Lee Johnson in 2010. Not in 30 years or more had a fellow guitarist made me feel like I had discovered the musical Holy Grail. Yes, I’d had lesser seismic stirrings as a kid […]
Jazz guitarist Bobby Broom became one of the top guitarists in modern Jazz in part because of the inspiration of the great Jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. His group the Deep Blue Organ Trio with organist Chris Foreman and drummer Greg Rockingham continues the work of Montgomery that began with his landmark 1959 album, as Bobby explains […]
written for Jazziz magazine’s Coda section, fall 2012 Recently, I had an exchange with a jazz impresario about a fan’s preference for jazz standards over original material — a preference, I believe, shared by many other jazz fans. I have no statistical data to support that assumption, but I do have a wealth of empirical […]
written by Bobby Broom for Jazz Voicings, his bimonthly Chicago Jazz Magazine column Hiram Bullock probably became best known as the barefoot guitarist in Paul Schaefer’s band for the Late Night with David Letterman show during the early eighties. But he amassed a massive resumé playing alongside many of contemporary music’s brightest stars including James […]
written by Bobby Broom for Jazz Voicings, his bimonthly Chicago Jazz Magazine column People often ask me what it’s like to work with Sonny Rollins: what he’s like, what he practices, if he hangs out with the band, et cetera. Well, forget all that. My relationship with Mr. Rollins has been so important to me […]
written by Bobby Broom for Jazz Voicings, his bimonthly Chicago Jazz Magazine column I sometimes wonder if jazz needs a competition akin to the Olympics in order to move towards meritocracy in the field. The competition categories might be: harmonic inventiveness, time feel, solo structure – One thing I’d bet all jazz musicians would agree […]
Bobby BroomJazz Voicings Ahhh, those summer days! They make me think of freedom and fun and an escape from the constraints of the classroom. I am a high school jazz student at a reputed private educational institution and it would not be wrong to say that I owe my love for music to my institute. […]
I am actually happy to eat crow after having erroneously accused Northwestern University’s School of Music of altogether disregarding America’s, or more accurately, African-Americans’ great contribution to world culture: jazz music. I was pleased to learn of the appointment of Victor Goines, former Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School, as Northwestern’s new Jazz […]
written by Bobby Broom for Jazz Voicings, his bimonthly Chicago Jazz Magazine column College Jazz Studies programs have placed so much emphasis on the academics of jazz that the spirit behind the music – its essence – has been purged from both the curriculum and from the music being performed by students. As a university […]