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.
