Bobby Broom - More Amor

[GA Russell]

Guitarist Bobby Broom Joins Chicago Jazz Orchestra & Strings On "More Amor," Wes Montgomery Tribute CD Due March 28 From Chicago Jazz Orchestra Records Album Release Concert with Broom & CJO Takes Place Sunday, March 16, 3pm Logan Center Performance Hall, Chicago   Broom Also at Work on a Trio Recording In Tribute to His Mentor & Former Longtime Employer Sonny Rollins & Is Planning to Record His First Solo Guitar Album   March 6, 2025 Acclaimed guitarist Bobby Broom is the featured soloist on a new recording by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, More Amor: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery, due for release March 28 on Chicago Jazz Orchestra Records. The brainchild of CJO musical director/conductor Jeff Lindberg and Broom, the recording began with a seed planted in 2004, after Broom’s successful Montgomery retrospective concert performance with the big band and strings. “I was thrilled when Jeff contacted me about finally getting to work on this recording,” says Broom. “Seeing this vision through was an important collaboration for both of us.”   For this recording, Broom and Lindberg enlisted three arrangers—Alex Brown, Tom Garling, and Charley Harrison—to create brand-new arrangements of some familiar and not-so-familiar Montgomery material, including “Four on Six,” “Somewhere,” and “What the World Needs Now Is Love.” Of particular significance for Broom is the fact that his longtime trio (bassist Dennis Carroll, drummer Kobie Watkins) make up the core rhythm section for the album. “For me, this project is a dream,” says Bobby. “Having the trio included was a no-brainer and provided a level of comfort and inspiration for me to create. For years I’ve longed to record in this setting, particularly with strings. But to do so in such majestic fashion, with this ultra-swinging big band, is beyond my wildest dreams.” Broom’s trio went into the Sound Mine Recording Studio in Chicago in late 2024 to record tracks dedicated to Bobby’s mentor and former employer of ten years, Sonny Rollins. With a working title of TYSR (Thank You Sonny Rollins), Broom, Carroll, and Watkins recast Rollins’s compositions from different eras in the Saxophone Colossus’s career. “Sonny has left us so much music to draw from, from so many periods in his long career,” says Broom. “I wanted to try to touch on some of the gems, like ‘Alfie’s Theme’ and ‘Strode Road,’ but also some more recent and perhaps hidden ones, like ‘Allison’ and ‘Kim.’”   In further recording news, Bobby plans to begin recording his first solo guitar album in the spring of 2026, and he announces the re-release of Stand!, his first trio album from 2001 with the Bobby Broom Trio, featuring Dennis Carroll and Dana Hall on bass and drums respectively. The album has been digitally remastered and will be available on all major streaming platforms, via Clean Sweep Music (release date pending). Having recently performed a successful three-night run at the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens, Greece, as well as performances at Berklee College of Music and City Winery Chicago, Broom continues to keep his schedule of bookings full.   On Fri. 4/4, he’ll be part of a Benny Golson Tribute with the Ravinia Jazz Mentors at Bennett Gordon Hall, Ravinia Festival Grounds, Highland Park, IL. The Jazz Scholar Program is one of the Ravinia Festival’s many community outreach arms. It involves professional jazz musicians working closely with jazz-aspiring, Chicago-area high schoolers. Over the years, the program has yielded players like Marquis Hill, Rajiv Halim, Kyle Swan, and Isaiah Collier. Broom has been a Ravinia Jazz mentor for 25 years.   Broom performs with the Ben Paterson Organ Trio at Chicago’s Jazz Showcase 4/10-13. Paterson is a member of the Bobby Broom Organi-Sation, which toured with Steely Dan in 2014 and is featured on that trio’s 2024 Jamalot CD.   This fall (10/15), Broom will perform with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra at Daniels Pavilion, Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, FL.   And of course he’s looking forward to the More Amor CD release concert this month (Sun. 3/16 at 3pm), at Logan Center Performance Hall, 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago. “This concert premiere will be an important event for Jazz from the city of Chicago during this time,” notes Broom. “It will be a celebration and demonstration of the excellence that went into the making of this remarkable recording.”   Photography: Tom Chadwick 

Behind the Scenes: Wes Montgomery Tribute Album with the CJO & Bobby Broom 

Bobby Broom Web Site