Bio

Born in Boston in 1959, Bob Bowlby started his first musical pursuit by playing drums at the age of 6. His father, Bob Bowlby, Sr., was an English Professor and a pianist who played professionally on weekends at night clubs and private parties. By the time he was 9, he was sitting in with his father’s band, and was a member of the group by age 11.

While listening to many of his father’s jazz records, he became more drawn to the saxophone from listening to Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. At age 12, he started playing saxophone and clarinet in the school band. He soon added flute and all the various woodwinds to his list of instruments very quickly. By the time he was 14, he was playing gigs with his father on saxophone as well as all the ensembles in high school. After studying with saxophone greats Joe Viola and George Garzone at Berklee College of Music, he spent several years touring worldwide with the Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw Orchestras. In 1984, he joined Buddy Rich and remained with the band as lead alto and featured soloist until Rich's death in 1987.

Since then he has been a sought after full time musician throughout the northeast and abroad. Bob was an instructor at Berklee College of Music from 1987-91. He has a long list of credentials with a wide variety of musical groups including: Boston Pops, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Vereen, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, British Rock Symphony, The Moody Blues, Rod Stewart, Sammy Davis, Jr., Mel Torme, Rosemary Clooney, Natalie Cole and Barry Manilow. Bob has been featured with such noted jazz legends as Bobby Shew, Randy Brecker, Clark Terry and Nick Brignola.

BORN TO PLAY

MILTON'S SAXMAN

Musician recalls his (Buddy) Rich education

By DAN DeLEO The Patriot Ledger MILTON - Bob Bowlby pulled out his saxophone, slipped a reed into the mouthpiece and let loose on a sizzling solo, his fingers flying across the brass keys, his cheeks pulsating. He was standing in the small backyard of his Milton home, ankle high in grass and weeds. The sound of cars whizzing by on nearby Route 138 competed with the music coming out of the sax. Twenty years ago, the scene was much different. Back then, Bowlby, now 46, would have been on stage, firing off a solo with legendary drummer Buddy Rich keeping the beat behind him. For four years in the mid-1980s, when Bowlby was in his early 20s, he worked as Rich’s lead saxophone player, touring with the jazz great’s big band. ‘‘It was an education,’’ Bowlby said. ‘‘It was my graduate school.’’ The experience paid off. Today, Bowlby is one of the more sought-after professional musicians in Greater Boston. He has played with the Boston Pops, in the orchestras of just about every touring Broadway show that comes through town, and with a bevy of big-name singers, including Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Rod Stewart. ‘‘I’ve never had a day job in my life,’’ said Bowlby, who grew up in Milton. ‘‘From the time I was 14, I was making money playing music.’’


			Saxophonist Bob Bowlby has played internationally with artists like Natalie Cole and Frank Sinatra during his career. Bowlby plays his horn in his back yard. (AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger)

It all started at 6, when his father took him to see the explosive drummer with whom the boy would later find himself sharing a bandstand.

Buddy Rich’s swing band was playing at Avon High School four decades ago.

Bowlby and his dad, Bob Sr., had terrible seats for the show, but Rich’s bus broke down on the way to the show, and the band was hours late.

The father-son duo waited them out, and by the time Rich and his band arrived, near midnight, the two had moved down to front-row seats.

They were sitting only feet away from the saxophone section and Rich’s explosive drumming.

‘‘That probably changed my whole life,’’ Bowlby recalled.

He awoke the next morning knowing he was destined to be a jazz musician, and, like many young kids who saw Rich play, he was first inspired to take up the drums.

For the next six years, Bowlby studied with a private teacher at Charles B Music on Hancock Street in Quincy.

When he was 12, though, he switched to the saxophone, inspired by his father’s vast record collection that included Cannonball Adderly and John Coltrane.

While his friends were listening to Beatles records, Bowlby was holed up in his bedroom transcribing complicated sax solos and learning how to breathe in such a way that would allow him to blow rapid-fire notes.

He was a quick study. Having learned the rhythmic values of notes as a drummer, sight-reading music charts, which is essential for professional musicians, came to him easily.

‘‘It’s like reading a book, you recognize words, sentences, paragraphs,’’ he said. ‘‘I was always reading some kind of music, while my friends were reading books.’’

Bowlby’s parents supported his music, though he at times got into trouble for neglecting his academic studies.

‘‘I played obsessively when I first started,’’ he said. ‘‘I had the sax in my face all the time. I had a real tunnel vision.’’

It was Bowlby’s dad, however, who was a semi-professional jazz pianist, who encouraged him to pursue his dream of becoming a professional.

During summer vacations, Bob Sr. would put together mini-concerts at the family home, which had a big barn on the property that doubled as a rehearsal and performance space.

By the time Bowlby was 11, he was good enough to sit in with his dad’s band, which played parties and weddings on the weekends. When he was 14, he was earning $150 a week from gigs.

He used the money to buy records, and he started buying and learning to play more instruments, too. In his high school days, he learned flute and clarinet. Eventually, he had all the woodwind instruments down.

Those skills have been important over the years, as Bowlby has increasingly made his living playing in orchestra pits. At times, he plays five different instruments during a single production.

He is currently working in the orchestra pit of the production of the ‘‘Full Monty’’ at North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly.

The highlight of his career, however, will always be his days with Buddy Rich, who was known in the music world as having virtuoso drum technique and about the meanest temper in the business.

Bowlby remembers many nights when Rich berated the band on the bus, sometimes because of perceived sloppy playing, other times for no apparent reason. Rich’s rants are legendary; there are at least four recordings of him losing his temper that have circulated in music circles for years.

‘‘He was a nice bunch of guys,’’ Bowlby said jokingly, alluding to the drummer’s many moods. ‘‘He was tough, and could be mean sometimes, but he was also a warm, caring person, too.

‘‘He was honest. If he didn’t like you, he’d tell you. I got to know him well, and we got along, because he liked my playing.’’

Looking back now, Bowlby will always be grateful for the break that Rich gave him. The drummer died in 1987 from complications following surgery to remove a brain tumor.

Bowlby still remembers the last show he played with the legendary drummer, at Pepper Pike High School in Ohio.

‘‘The money wasn’t great, and it was a tough life living on the road,’’ Bowlby said, ‘‘but I got an education out of it and that paid off later.’’

And anyway, Bowlby added, ‘‘This was all that was ever really on the map for me.’’

Transmitted Saturday, November 26, 2005