Bobby Thomas

Robert Charles " Bobby" Thomas (* around 1933, † October 20, 2013 ) was an American jazz drummer, music educator and composer.

Life and work

Thomas made ​​from 1953 to 1955 the military service, where he played in an Army band. After his discharge from the army, he studied at the Juilliard School ( completion 1961); in November 1960 made ​​his first recordings with Junior Mance (The Soulful Piano of Junior Mance ). In the following years he worked as a professional musician; so he accompanied, inter alia, musicians and singers such as Wes Montgomery, Carmen McRae, Cy Coleman, Charles Aznavour, Jimmy Heath, Herbie Mann, Gigi Gryce, Ray Charles, Gloria Lynne, Dionne Warwick, Gerry Mulligan, Oliver Jones, Hubert Laws and Billy Taylor. In addition to jazz, he worked in numerous Broadway shows like Promises Promises, Company, Coco and the musical A Chorus Line, where he also served as musical coordinator and worked with Michael Bennett. Thomas also starred in the TV show by David Frost and was active as a composer; his compositions have been recorded, inter alia, by Hubert Laws, Wayne Shorter, Attila Zoller, Dave Pike, Junior Mance and David Frost. Thomas taught at Rutgers University and in the Jazz in July program of the University of Massachusetts. In the field of jazz, he was involved 1960-1993 to 45 recording sessions.