Bobby Forrester, Jazz Warrior: Bobby's Blues

Toward the end of Bob Porter’s excellent book Soul Jazz, there’s a paragraph that rounds up all of the great jazz organists who never quite made the commercial splash that the musicians covered in his earlier chapters managed to achieve, and Bobby Forrester is one of them. For many years, he was Ruth brown’s accompanist and music director, and gigged around New York with many of the greats of jazz, R&B, and rock (think Bonnie Raitt) before his untimely death in 2002 at the age of 55. Like many jazz musicians, to paraphrase the poet John Davidson, he “fell, face forward, fighting, on the deck.”

Before he left town, though, he recorded several albums, including Bobby’s Blues. There are no liner notes, but the copyright data indicates it was recorded and mixed in 1993 and mastered in 2013. Forrester is accompanied by Joey “G-Clef” Cavaseno on alto, William Ash on guitar, and Clarence “Tootsie” Bean. It’s a classic slice of soulful organ combo music. Forrester has a distinctive style and digs deep, as in the title track. Ash is technically proficient but can get down with the best on the blues. Cavaseno, like the others on the date, is a stalwart of the NYC scene, and Bean provides strong rhythmic support throughout. I was a bit unsure when I looked at the song list, but even a chestnut like I’ll Never Smile Again gets a grits-and-greens makeover.

Check out Bobby Forrester―I’ll be doing so in the future, believe me. Here are a couple of the tastier tracks, but if you like music from the golden age of soul jazz, you’ll like all of Bobby’s Blues. Note: I hope to write more about Porter’s Soul Jazz in a future post.