Bobby Few (October 21, 1935 – January 6, 2021) was an American jazz pianist and vocalist.
Born Robert Lee Few Junior on October 21, 1935, in Cleveland, Ohio, "he was the son of Robert Senior, a maître d'hôtel at a white country club, and Winifred, an amateur violinist",[1] and grew up in the Fairfax neighborhood of the city's East Side. On his mother's encouragement, Few studied classical piano, but later discovered jazz while listening to his father's Jazz at the Philharmonic records. His father became his first booking agent, and soon Few was doing gigs around the greater Cleveland area with other local musicians including Bill Hardman, Bob Cunningham, Cevera Jefferies and Frank Wright. He was exposed to Tadd Dameron and Benny Bailey during his youth, and knew Albert Ayler, with whom he played in high school. As a young man, Few also gigged with local tenor legend Tony "Big T" Lovano – Joe Lovano's father.
In the late 1950s, Few relocated to New York, where he led a trio from 1958 to 1964; there, he met and began working with many world-class musicians, including singer Brook Benton, and saxophonists Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson and Ayler.[2] Few played on several of Ayler's albums and also recorded with Alan Silva, Noah Howard, Muhammad Ali, Booker Ervin, and Kali Fasteau. In 1969, he moved to France and rapidly integrated the expatriate jazz community, working frequently with Archie Shepp, Sunny Murray, Steve Lacy and Rasul Siddik. From 2001, he toured internationally with American saxophonist Avram Fefer, with whom he recorded four critically acclaimed CDs.
Few played extensively around Europe and made[3] regular trips back to the United States.[4] Recently, he played with saxophonist Charles Gayle and led his own trio in Paris, France. He was working on a Booker Ervin tribute project called Few's Blues that featured tenor player Tony Lakatos, bassist Reggie Johnson and drummer Doug Sides. Few was interviewed in a 2008 documentary, later released on DVD, on drummer Sunny Murray – "Sunny's Time Now".
Bobby Few died on January 6, 2021, at the age of 85.[5]
Some of Few's various playing styles were described by Kevin Whitehead: "He can play delicate single-note melodies, roll out lush romantic chords, rap out explicitly Monkish close-interval clanks – though he's a busier pianist than Monk – or roil around in classic free style, using a sustain pedal to shape the density of his sound".[3]
Years in brackets refer to dates of recording.
With Albert Ayler
With Jacques Coursil
With Hans Dulfer
With Mike Ellis
With Booker Ervin
With Zusaan Kali Fasteau
With Avram Fefer
With Ricky Ford
With Noah Howard
With Talib Kibwe
With Steve Lacy
With David Murray
With Sunny Murray
With Archie Shepp
With Alan Silva
With Marzette Watts
With Joe Lee Wilson
With Frank Wright