Biography
In the bass chair, Bob Cranshaw mirrored the profile of a veteran saxophonist who never became a superstar yet commanded steady regard for reliable mastery. He maintained long-running associations with many leading figures in jazz. Although his sound remained understated, his precise timekeeping, deep command of harmony, and broad adaptability placed him on a striking number of sessions and road engagements from the closing years of the 1950s onward. Early training on piano and drums gave way to bass and tuba once he reached high school. In 1957 he helped form Walter Perkins’ MJT +3, traveled with that ensemble to New York in 1960, and, after the group dissolved two years later, became a sideman with Sonny Rollins. Additional work came with both the small groups and the big band led by Duke Pearson. A separate path opened in television, most visibly through his long-running role on Sesame Street, while theater-pit assignments also filled his calendar; jazz opportunities nevertheless remained abundant. Among the players he accompanied were Lee Morgan, Wes Montgomery, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Thelonious Monk, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, and Buddy Rich, and he toured with George Shearing, Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, and Oscar Peterson. During the 1970s he enlarged his stylistic range by adopting electric bass. Frequent reunions with Rollins continued through the 1980s and 1990s. No leader dates by Cranshaw appeared in the digital era, yet his contributions survive on numerous recordings by Rollins, McCoy Tyner, and MJT +3, among others. He succumbed to cancer at his Manhattan residence in November 2016, aged 83.
Albums
