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Bobby Timmons
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Bobby Timmons was an American jazz pianist and composer, born on 19 December 1935 in Philadelphia, the son of a minister. His parents and several uncles and aunts played piano, and he studied with an uncle, Robert Habershaw, who also taught McCoy Tyner. His first performances were in his grandfather's church, which coloured his later playing. He grew up in the same neighbourhood as the Heath brothers and Lee Morgan. In 1954 he moved to New York and played with Kenny Dorham, Chet Baker, Sonny Stitt and Maynard Ferguson, among others.
Music and breakthrough
He became known as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, from July 1958 to September 1959 and from February 1960 to June 1961, and in between in the band of Cannonball Adderley. The saxophonist Benny Golson brought him to Blakey and said that he could play both bebop and funky. His compositions from those years had commercial success: Moanin', Dat Dere and This Here. In the early and mid 1960s he led piano trios that toured and recorded a great deal, with albums such as This Here Is Bobby Timmons and Little Barefoot Soul.
Influence
Timmons is strongly associated with soul jazz, a style he helped to start, with deceptively simple, bluesy melodies. Drink and drugs held back his career, and he died on 1 March 1974 of cirrhosis of the liver, aged thirty-eight. Critics still consider his contribution to jazz underrated.
Listening
Moanin' · Bobby Timmons, 1960- This Here · Bobby Timmons, 1960
- Dat Dere · Bobby Timmons, 1960
Discography
Studio albums
- 1960John Jenkins, Cliff Jordan and Bobby Timmons
- 1960Soul Time
- 1960This Here Is Bobby Timmons
- 1962Sweet and Soulful Sounds
- 1963Born to Be Blue!
- 1964From the Bottom
- 1964Holiday Soul
- 1964Little Barefoot Soul
- 1965Chicken and Dumplin's
- 1965Chun-King
- 1965Workin' Out!
- 1966Soul Food
- 1992The Soul Man!
- 1994Workin' Out
- 1998Got to Get It!
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- After Hours: Session 2NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Soul jazz Genre
The alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley had a success in 1959 with This Here by his pianist Bobby Timmons, and the Ramsey Lewis trio reached the charts in 1965 with The 'In' Crowd.