Bobby Broom

Bobby Broom, whose guitar work fuses jazz fusion in the manner of George Benson with hard bop technique and an affinity for smooth R&B, first displayed this combination of rigorous jazz skills and groove-oriented playing across two early-1980s Arista releases; Clean Sweep reached the R&B charts, yet nearly three decades of session work passed before he registered a major impact on the jazz mainstream via the 2009 release Bobby Broom Plays for Monk. Thereafter he sustained both an exemplary critical profile—topping DownBeat’s Critics’ Poll for three consecutive years in the early 2010s—and a devoted following that welcomed later projects such as the 2024 covers album Jamalot.

Born January 18, 1961, and raised in New York City, Broom encountered jazz early through Charles Earland’s 1971 album Black Talk, took up the guitar soon afterward, and began performing in off-Broadway productions as well as with Charlie Parker alumni pianists Al Haig and Walter Bishop, Jr.; although invited to join Sonny Rollins’ band, he declined on his parents’ advice in order to finish high school before committing to music professionally. After studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston, he returned to New York and collaborated with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, trumpeters Tom Browne and Hugh Masekela, and pianist Dave Grusin prior to issuing his debut solo album, 1981’s Clean Sweep.

Several years after the initial overture from Sonny Rollins, Broom spent five years with the saxophonist beginning in 1982, touring and appearing on the albums No Problem and Reel Life. In 1987 he participated in Kenny Burrell’s Jazz Guitar Band and recorded the live Blue Note album Generation at the Village Vanguard; that same year he also received a short-lived invitation to perform with Miles Davis. Having moved to Chicago in 1984, Broom eventually assembled his own trio and co-led the Deep Blue Organ Trio alongside Chris Foreman and Greg Rockingham; there he reconnected with Charles Earland, likewise newly based in the city, and the pair recorded Front Burner and Third Degree Burn. Shortly before Earland’s death in 1999, the organist had intended to form a trio with Broom and drummer Rockingham. During the 1990s Broom also toured and recorded with Dr. John, co-producing the album Duke Elegant.

Broom’s involvement in jazz education began in 1982 when he joined the faculty of Jackie McLean’s program at the University of Hartford; he later completed graduate studies in jazz pedagogy at Northwestern University in 2005 and taught at DePaul University. Also in 2005 he resumed his association with mentor Sonny Rollins after a twenty-year interval. Two years later he issued the pop-covers collection Song and Dance, followed in 2007 by the Latin-infused Passport Not Required, which featured Alexandre Pires and Sergio Pires.

With 2009’s Bobby Broom Plays for Monk he turned his attention to the compositions of pianist Thelonious Monk, then reverted to original trio material on 2012’s Upper West Side Story. In 2014 he explored American Songbook standards on My Shining Hour, leading a trio that included bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Makaya McCraven. The ensuing three years were devoted to touring and time with his young son; in 2017 he released the direct-to-web album Throwback (Home Demos 1992-1996). That was followed in fall 2018 by Soul Fingers, which presented his Organi-Sation trio—Ben Paterson on Hammond B-3 and Kobie Watkins on drums—in swinging renditions of late-1960s and early-1970s pop material by the Beatles, Procol Harum, Bobbie Gentry, and Steely Dan, rendered in classic soul-jazz style.

Keyed Up, issued in 2022, paid homage to celebrated jazz pianists through interpretations of pieces associated with McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell, Erroll Garner, Horace Silver, and Horace Parlan. For the 2024 live album Jamalot, devoted to rock and soul covers, Broom again employed the Organi-Sation trio.