Featuring our Artist in Residence!
Bobby Broom is a veteran jazz guitarist, bandleader, composer and sideman, who is highly regarded among his peers as a compelling soloist in the tradition of Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, and Kenny Burrell. Based in Chicago, Broom has, since the very beginning of his career, embraced the rhythm and blues core of jazz. A professional since age 16, Broom lent his talents to recordings and performances by everyone from Sonny Rollins and Dave Grusin to Miles Davis and Dr. John just to name a few. As a bandleader, his recordings have underscored his innate ability to render complex ideas and techniques accessible to a wide range of listeners. Clean Sweep, his 1981 debut album, placed on the R&B charts and remained there for nine weeks. It was drenched in funk, R&B, and smooth jazz, even as his playing displayed classic hard bop phrasing and licks. His 2009 offering Bobby Broom Plays for Monk, resonated for its startling arrangments and accessible approach while directly relating the composer's sometimes difficult conception to rhythm and harmony.