Bobby Forrester (November 27, 1947 - November 23, 2002 was an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician.
Robert Forrester began playing the piano at the age of nine. He then learned to play the guitar and was a professional rock and roll guitarist for many years. He finally switched to the Hammond organ, which he learned to play in 1966 under the tutelage of Richie Levister. His influences and musical role models included Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and Jimmy McGriff.
Forrester had a distinctive style, which was described as soulful, harmonically sophisticated and very swinging. Friends said that he was an extremely versatile musician and could play in many different styles. Jazz remained his passion, however, and he loved the instrumentation of tenor sax and organ.
Here’s “On Broadway” from above album.
He released several albums under his own name from 1971 onwards. For 26 years he was keyboardist and musical director of the backing band of singer Ruth Brown. He can be heard on her albums Touch Me in the Morning, the Soul Survives and most recently A Good Day for the Blues (1998). He also worked with vocalists Irene Reid, Lena Horne, Gwen Cleveland, Ernie Byrd and Bonnie Raitt.
He has also played with saxophonists George Coleman, Bill Easley, Percy France, Harold Ousley, Bill Saxton, Sonny Stitt, Stanley Turrentine, Harold Vick, Jerry Weldon, and Frank Wess, drummers Tootsie Bean and Art Taylor, and bassists Ben Brown and Noryko.
In the field of jazz, he was involved in 32 recording sessions between 1975 and 2001, according to Tom Lord. However his life was tragically cut short when he died on November 23, 2002, at the age of 54, while he was still an extremely active sideman in the New York City Jazz scene.
In 1993 Bobby took his working group into the studio in hopes that a label would pick it up, but it was never released until 2013. Bobby's self-produced solo album entitled "Bobby's Blues" features Joey "G-Clef" Cavaseno on alto saxophone, William Ash on guitar, and Clarence "Tootsie" Bean on drums.
(Scarce information was edited from Local 802 afm, Wikipedia & Discogs)
Here’s a rare clip of Bobby Forrester featured at Harold Ousley's Jazz Jamathon at the Jamaica Market in Queens, NY. Bobby Forrester-Hammond B3, Harold Ousley-tsax, Michael "Max" Fleming-bass, Harold "Iron Sax"-tsax, Sir G. Earl Grice-drums.
