The Vermont Jazz Center welcomes the Bobby Broom Trio on Saturday January 23rd at 8:00 PM. Broom is Chicago’s leading guitarist and, due to his commitment to teaching and his ability to draw crowds in Chicago’s best listening rooms, it is a rare treat to catch him on the east coast. He will perform with his long-standing trio of Dennis Carroll on bass and Makaya McCraven on drums who have each, respectively, played with Broom for 20 and 5 years. The trio will travel from Chicago to Vermont for this “one-off” concert with no other east coast gigs listed on their itinerary.
Broom stands out as one of the best guitarists in the world and has won the Downbeat Critic’s poll as Best Guitarist for 3 of the last 4 years. His music is both intelligent and soulful at the same time. He is a deep listener and an arranger who understands the power of space. He was “the first guitarist to be asked by Art Blakey to be a part of his group,” he loves standards, and can funk-out with the best of them. He has a beautiful tone, an extensive vocabulary of chordal voicings, a deep connection to the blues and a grooving rhythmical sensibility.
Broom, who was chosen to join Sonny Rollins’ touring ensemble and to appear on 5 of Rollins’ albums, attributes much of his success to his tenures with these grand-masters such as Rollins, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Stanley Turrentine, Al Haig, Walter Bishop, Dave Grusin, Charles Earland, Hugh Masakela, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Ron Carter, Kenny Burrell, Ramsey Lewis and Dr. John. He recognizes that, to move forward as a leading figure in jazz, one needs to convey an original voice and carry the responsibility incumbent upon him and other younger legends to serve as mentors for others.
Broom notes that “The blessings of the experiences that I had to perform and record with these masters—men that I learned from and idolized from afar, for so long, via their recordings—is miraculous. It’s difficult to explain the feeling. But the thing that you learn, if you’re fortunate, is that jazz is a process—a never-ending one really. It involves practice, imitation, assimilation, apprenticeship, community involvement, development via performance experience… and then hopefully having a musical vision that you can work on implementing with those kindred spirits within your peer group.”
He has always had a knack for connecting with those “kindred spirits” to create his own music. He has recorded 11 albums under his own name and four as co-leader. His music is strongly grounded in jazz tradition (as illustrated by his work as the guitarist for Charlie Parker’s pianist Al Haig), but he is also unafraid to explore jazz’s edge as demonstrated by his work with Miles Davis and Kenny Garrett. The repertoire from his latest release, My Shining Hour, will be featured at the concert at the Vermont Jazz Center on January 23rd. According to his website, this album “is a personal and in-depth exploration of American Songbook classics and his first studio recording exclusively of this nature.” The New York Times’ Nate Chinen wrote that it is “…among the most satisfying jazz guitar albums likely to emerge this year” (2014) and DownBeat magazine’s Jon Corbett writes: “4-STARS – Broom is the full monty: ultra-refined timing and tone, continuous flow of ideas, a touch of grease, a treat for the connoisseur.”
Listening to My Shining Hour, one is struck by several defining characteristics. The first is that there is an overall group unity where harmonic and rhythmical complexity are deftly paired with simplicity, space and elements of the blues. The second is that it is for certain that (as corroborated by Broom’s manager) this music can only be performed by Broom’s hand-picked trio. No “pickup” group could quickly grasp the ensemble’s rhythmically charged arrangements as exemplified in Sweet and Lovely (in 5/4 time) and in Sweet Georgia Brown with its decided New Orleans feel. As Broom states, when he “…formed the trio in 1991 it was to avoid playing weather-worn standards with makeshift groups.” His work with Carroll and McCraven is strong and lean and—with the combination of Broom’s full tone, Carroll’s swinging quarter notes and counterpoint lines, and McCraven’s ingenious, driving and unusually-grouped beats—a guitar trio concept is generated that is complete, full and compelling. According to Broom’s website, [Carroll and McCraven] “understand the eloquence of silence in Broom’s less-is-more aesthetic, using beautifully calibrated dynamics to shape each passage.” Broom elaborates by saying “What I’ve had to come to terms with is the spaciousness that is inherent in the guitar trio…I’ve played with a bunch of other people, and Dennis and Makaya have too, but it’s a specific, unique sound when we get together with each other.”
Bassist Dennis Carroll, who came up on the Chicago scene playing with heavyweights like Jodie Christian, Bunky Green, and Clifford Jordan, has anchored Broom’s trio for more than two decades. He has performed with artists such as Eddie Harris, Roy Hargrove, Eric Alexander, Ron Blake, Ira Sullivan and others.
In the drum chair, there has been more turnover and it has become something of a launching pad for stellar young players, Makaya McCraven included. In the early 2000s McCraven was a rising star in the Northampton, MA jazz scene. He then moved to Chicago where he is now considered “One of Chicago’s most versatile and in-demand drummers” (Chicago Reader). Broom notes that McCraven “has got a certain nonstop intensity and energy, a free-flowing array of ideas that touch on a variety of styles. His dad is a professional drummer who lives in Paris and played with Archie Shepp, and his mom is a Hungarian folk musician, so he’s got jazz, world music, and funk at his fingertips. And Dennis and I have played for such a long time we really work as a tandem. He realized early on he had a lot of space to work with because I’m not directing him by playing chords all of the time. He’s very harmonically astute, and wants to find the right colors for the moment.”
Come to the Vermont Jazz Center on January 23rd at 8:00 PM to discover for yourself why jazz critic Neil Tesser stated “Broom has one of the few truly recognizable styles among modern guitarists, and one of the most satisfying solo concepts in mainstream jazz.” Encounter Chicago’s hidden gem when Bobby Broom brings his working trio (with Dennis Carroll on bass and Makaya McCraven on drums) to the east coast for this rare visit and enjoy Broom’s blues-infused interpretations of “a wide variety of pop songs from my youth, American songbook classics, jazz standards and original material.” This trio represents a fresh look at jazz standards with brilliant arrangements and a telepathic group sound.
The Bobby Broom Trio will perform at the Vermont Jazz Center on Saturday, January 23rd at 8:00 PM. The VJC is especially grateful to Mark Anagnostopulos and Janet Zinter for their generous sponsorship and is thankful for ongoing support from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Hospitality for our artists is provided by the Hampton Inn of Brattleboro. VJC publicity is underwritten by the Brattleboro Reformer, WVPR, WVEW and WFCR.
Tickets for the Bobby Brom Trio are $20+ general admission, $15 for students with I.D. (contact VJC about educational discounts); available at In the Moment in Brattleboro, online at www.vtjazz.org, or by email at ginger@vtjazz.org. Tickets can also be reserved by calling the Vermont Jazz Center ticket line, 802-254-9088, ext. 1. Handicapped access is available by calling the VJC.
Bobby Broom Media Options:
Written Interview with Chicago Jazz Magazine
http://www.chicagojazz.com/thescene/bobby-broom-talks-music-and-more-1443.html
Short video documentary of the making of “My Shining Hour.”
The Trio performing D’s Blues
The Trio Performing Monk’s Ask Me Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iulz25ZaCAY
Broom performing with his Organ Trio, Organi-station
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
Written by Eugene Uman (please credit)
Contact: eugene@vtjazz.org or 802 258 8822
Vermont Jazz Center Presents Chicago Guitar Legend Bobby Broom
Short Summary
Who: Bobby Broom, electric guitar, Dennis Carroll, bass; Makaya McCraven, drums
What: Blues-drenched, intelligent, swinging interpretations of jazz standards
When: Saturday, January 23rd, 2016 at 8:00 PM
Where: The Vermont Jazz Center, 72 Cotton Mill Hill, #222, Brattleboro, VT 05301
Tickets available: online at www.vtjazz.org, by email at ginger@vtjazz.org, by phone 802 254 9088, in person at In the Moment, Main St., Brattleboro, VT.
